MEMOIRS   OF  A 
SENATE   PAGE 


(1855 


1859) 


CHRISTIAN       F.       gCKLOFF 

1 1 

gdted  by 
PERCIVAL       G.       MELBOURNE 

Author  of  "  Child's  History  of  the  War  with  Spain  " 


Fully  Illustrated 


fQroadway    'Publishing    Company 
835    Broadway,     3\C  e  w     York 


COPYRIGHT,  1909. 

BY 
PERCIVAL     G.     MELBOURNE 

All  Rights  Reserved 


CONTENTS. 

I.  PAGE 

Introductory. I 

II. 
The  Scene 3 

III. 
Page  Life 10 

IV. 
The  City  From  the  Capitol  Dome 15 

V. 

Senatorial     Dignity. — A      Group     of     Leading 
Lights. — Mallory's  Faith 19 

VI. 

Humorists  of  the  Senate 30 

VII. 

Buildings  on  the  Mall 51 

VIII. 
Romantic  Character  of  the  Great  West  Indian..     56 

IX. 
The  Question  of  Chaplains 65 

X. 
Douglas;  the  Demosthenes  of  the  Senate 73 

XI. 

On  the  Admission  of  Kansas 78 

XII. 

Dissertations  on  the  Slave 87 

XIII. 
Charles  Sumner:  Anti-Slavery  Leader...... 96 


M106552 


ii  CONTENTS. 

XIV.     *v 

Assault  on  Sumner .. 109 

XV. 

Butler's  Defense;  and  Oration  on  His  Death....  117 

XVI. 
Judge  Wade 129 

XVII. 

Continued  Debate  on  Kansas  Affairs 137 

XVIII. 
Clayton:  Scholar  and  Statesman 157 

XIX. 
The  Lecompton-  Swindle 164 

XX. 
The  Adversary  of  Douglas 174 

XXI. 
Famous  "Mud-Sill"  Speech 178 

XXII. 

The  Men  of  Maine +. 184 

XXIII. 

"Hireling  Manual  Laborers" 194 

XXIV. 
Andrew  Johnson:  Tailor-Statesman 205 

XXV. 

Jefferson  Davis  and  Robert  Toombs 209 

XXVI. 
Passing  From  the  Old  Chamber 218 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Facing 
Page 

I.     Seward,  Crittenden,  Houston,  Hale 24 

II.    Judah  P.   Benjamin 56 

III.  Stephen  A.  Douglas 74 

IV.  Charles  Sumner 98 

V.    Benjamin   F.   Wade 130 

VI.    Wilson,  Hamlin,  Johnson,  Broderick 194 

VII.    Davis,  Toombs,  Hammond,  Breckinridge    . .  214 


Memoirs  of  a  Senate  Page 
i. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Senate  chamber  during  the  period  of 
which  this  volume  treats  was  the  theatre  of  per 
haps  the  most  memorable  scenes  in  the  history  of 
the  upper  house  of  Congress;  and  the  men  who 
swayed  the  public  mind  of  the  North  and  of  the 
South,  by  means  of  mighty  words  and  undaunted 
acts,  furnishing  thereby  the  great  prelude  to  a 
great  war,  were  men  of  whom  whatsoever  is  re 
lated  should  meet  with  wide  popular  interest.  In 
those  years  the  contest  over  slavery  became  more 
and  more  embittered,  the  Republican  party  began 
taking  root  in  the  political  field,  and  a  gulf  grew 
wide  between  the  opposite-minded  throughout 
that  grave  and  stolid  house. 

As  I  look  down  the  vista  of  years,  in  fancy  I 
see  again  what  struck  the  plastic  mind  of  youth : 
many  men  of  giant  intellect  and  singular  gifts, 
grandly  outlined  on  that  famous  floor;  and  as 
the  spectacular  scenes  glide  by,  I  entertain  in  no 
less  degree  the  infatuation  I  felt  when  as  a  boy, 
I  heard,  day  by  day,  the  eloquence  of  English 
flowing  in  unstemmed  torrents,  and  beheld  the 
speakers  in  all  the  loftiness  of  poise  and  com 
mand.  Secretly,  and  boylike  enough,  I  had  my 
favorites  who  arose  armed  to  the  teeth  and  broke 


OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


lances  in  every  debate.  What  schoolboy  is  not 
familiar  with  a  score  of  those  illustrious  names? 

Quite  naturally,  in  view  of  what  I  have  already 
confessed,  I  afterwards  watched  and  studied  the 
lives,  not  only  of  such  as  were  my  idols,  but  of 
all  the  senators  I  had  known.  Hence,  in  any 
lines  from  this  pen  touching  that  time  and  the 
actors  in  it,  the  substance  is  the  better  of  course, 
for  the  reason  that  my  memory  has  been  kept 
fresh  and  my  knowledge  extended  by  continual 
inquiry  into  the  records. 

Whosoever  appreciates  the  genius  that  can 
shape  men's  thoughts,  and  guide  the  wills  of  free 
people  into  certain  and  particular  paths ;  whoso 
ever  appreciates  the  talent  that  can  lay  tributary 
to  a  vexed  and  difficult  problem,  an  abundance 
of  apt  illustrations,  wit,  satire,  and  classic  fig 
ures  ;  whosoever  appreciates  language  incisive  as 
the  rapier,  and  again  blunt  and  unqualified  as 
man's  dogged  determination,  let  him  follow  me 
through  the  posterns  of  half  a  century,  and  let 
the  scene  be  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


II. 

THE  SCENE. 

It  was  a  singularly  fascinating  experience  to 
be  present  when  the  Senate  convened  after  the 
long  recess  of  Congress.  The  old  chamber,  deso 
lated  for  several  months  of  the  year,  now  opens 
to  new  pages  of  history,  and  teems  with  life. 
Entering  from  all  directions,  some  of  them  arm 
in  arm,  in  couples  and  in  small  groups,  senatorial 
lights  arrive;  representative  men  from  all  parts 
of  the  Union,  men  of  so  many  types,  of  so  many 
conditions  of  a  country's  strength  and  greatness  ; 
coming  with  the  right  either  of  achievement  in 
the  world's  race,  or  with  approved  heritage  to 
fame;  and  here  renewing  friendships,  there  rec 
ognizing  antagonists,  they  range  themselves  for 
the  mighty  conflicts  that  may  come,  in  which 
firm  principle  is  behind  the  spoken  word  as  the 
law  of  nature  is  behind  the  booming  thunder. 

In  those  days,  the  scene  was  picturesque:  wit 
ness  for  example  on  the  one  hand  the  figure  of 
General  Houston,  that  great  plainsman,  wearing 
a  broad  sombrero  and  a  vest  of  leopard  skin ;  and 
on  the  other  hand,  the  classic  Charles  Sumner, 
of  Boston,  exponent  of  the  culture  and  learning 
of  the  gilded  metropolis.  Or,  again,  fancy  a  man 


4  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

like  Judge  Wade,  who  had  fought  his  way  to  the 
fore  through  adversity  in  every  guise,  and  then 
the  southern  aristocrat,  Jefferson  Davis,  or  John 
C.  Breckinridge.  Indeed,  many  strange  contrasts 
were  noticeable,  and  with  all  those  men  grouped 
as  the  living  expressions  of  a  wide  country's 
thought  and  wish,  the  place  of  their  assembling 
was  made  a  glorious  ground. 

Sixty-two  senators,  representing  thirty-one 
States,  composed  the  whole.  Mingling  with  the 
statesmen  were  many  persons  having  the  privi 
lege  of  the  floor.  John  C.  Rives,  publisher  of 
the  Congressional  Globe,  was  prominent;  and 
another  equally  so,  was  Col.  W.  W.  Seaton,  one 
of  the  editors  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  then 
the  leading  newspaper  of  Washington.  A  majes 
tic-looking  old  soldier,  who  was  known  by  every 
one,  moved  about  in  the  crowd,  and  his  visits 
were  frequent  through  the  sessions.  This  was 
General  Winfield  Scott,  the  grand  old  warrior. 

As  I  reflect  upon  the  scene,  I  find  myself  back 
again,  feeling  like  the  rest  of  the  pages,  viz.: 
second  in  importance  only  to  the  senators  them 
selves. 

The  hall  where  cluster  so  many  hallowed 
memories  of  patriotic  hearts,  and  in  which  the 
Senate  was  in  those  days  located,  is  now  used  for 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  court  was  then  di 
rectly  underneath  in  the  basement.  There  was  an 
alluring  atmosphere  about  the  place  that  has  per 
force  vanished  with  past  days,  personal  recollec 
tions  of  which  must  ever  fill  the  heart  with  deep 
emotion,  for  so  complete  and  so  tragic  were  the 
changes  of  the  succeeding  years.  On  that  famed 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  g 

floor  were  many  brave  spirits  that  were  soon  to 
be  marshalled  on  other  ground  in  the  vain  hope 
of  disrupting  the  nation  whose  pride  they  were. 
The  call  of  duty  wrought  sadly  among  friends 
of  long  standing.  And  not  only  that — but  we 
shall  not  linger  here. 

A  feature  of  the  old  chamber  which  lent  the 
appearance  of  comfort  and  homeliness  were  the 
open  fires.  There  were  four  grates  beneath 
mantel  shelves  in  the  corridor  back  of  the  Vice- 
President's  desk,  and  two  Franklin  stoves  with 
open  way,  near  the  main  entrance.  For  fuel  we 
used  hickory  wood  which  was  brought  up  and 
piled  on  the  andirons  as  it  was  needed.  In  front 
of  those  crackling  fires,  standing  with  their  backs 
to  the  blaze  and  their  coat-tails  spread,  many  re 
nowned  statesmen  have  whiled  away  spare  mo 
ments  spinning  yarns,  exchanging  confidences, 
and  poking  fun  at  one  another.  During  these 
intervals  of  relaxation,  the  talk  was  brimming 
with  keenest  wit,  and  if  by  chance  certain  gay 
hearts  were  there,  a  little  froth  of  overmastering 
fun  would  rise  a- top  of  it  all.  This  by-play  was 
wholly  missed  by  the  public;  the  walls  alone 
could  tell  what  was  said  if  walls  would  speak. 

One  winter  I  recall — the  winter  of  1855-56,  if 
I  am  not  mistaken — was  extremely  severe,  with 
frequent  snows  and  the  mercury  trying  hard  to 
get  out  at  the  bottom  of  the  tube.  Woolen 
shawls  were  then  the  fashionable  garment  for 
both  men  and  boys,  and  they  were  heavy  and 
warm;  of  somber  hues,  principally  grey  and 
brown,  with  a  little  variety  in  Scotch  plaids.  It 
was  a  common  sight  to  behold  the  revered  dig- 


6  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

nity  of  the  Senate  wrapped  head  and  all  in  these 
big  shawls,  and  comfortably  retaining  them  in 
the  chamber  on  very  cold  days.  Many  of  the 
older  men  in  their  efforts  to  keep  warm  made 
frequent  pilgrimages  to  the  open  grates,  and 
were  far  more  interested  in  the  state  of  the  fires 
than  in  any  State  of  the  Union. 

It  is  amusing  to  me  when  I  think  of  those 
shawls  and  the  grotesque  appearance  they  gave 
to  the  wearers;  but  overcoats  were  very  rarely 
seen  in  those  times.  I  remember  seeing  individu 
als,  great  travelers  probably,  who  wore  the 
Talma,  the  cloak  of  the  French  actor. 

Distinctly,  the  Senate  was  a  black  broadcloth 
assemblage,  the  cut  of  the  coat  being  a  long 
frock.  Silk  hats  prevailed  among  men  of  the 
North,  and  were  popular  with  senators  generally, 
although  some  southerners  and  westerners  pre 
ferred  the  soft  black  or  Kossuth  hat. 

Those  were  the  kindly  days  of  quill  pens  and 
snuff.  The  last  links  of  bygone  days  were  slow 
to  be  relinquished  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  old 
school.  Steel  pens  were  in  use,  but  many  sena 
tors  clung  to  the  quills  and  were  very  exacting  in 
their  wishes.  No  other  sort  of  pen  would  an 
swer.  They  did  all  their  own  writing,  as  they 
had  no  secretaries  then.  There  was  a  token  of 
gracious  dignity  in  this  personal  attention  to  cor 
respondence.  The  old  custom  of  using  sand  for 
blotting  was  also  in  practice  Upon  each  desk 
there  was  a  small  box  of  sand  for  the  purpose; 
the  sand  being  sprinkled  over  the  written  sheet 
which  instantly  dried  the  ink  and  was  then 
brushed  back  into  the  receptacle. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  7 

There  were  two  snuff  boxes  on  the  Vice-Presi 
dent's  desk,  one  on  each  side.  In  addition  to 
these,  some  of  the  pages  carried  snuff  especially 
for  senatorial  emergency.  I  believe  four  boxes 
could  be  counted  on  in  this  direction  in  an  ex 
tremity  of  need.  A  number  of  senators  were 
very  fond  of  snuff.  Seward,  Foot,  Collamer, 
Cass,  Evans,  and  Butler  were  so  much  addicted 
to  its  use,  they  could  not  speak  well  without  it. 

Singular  as  it  may  seem,  there  was  no  tele 
graph  office  in  the  Capitol ;  the  nearest  offices  be 
ing  the  Morse  line  and  the  House  line  of  printing 
telegraph,  both  under  the  National  Hotel,  corner 
of  Pennsylvania  avenue  and  Sixth  street.  Sena 
tor  Benjamin,  for  one,  had  acquired  the  habit  of 
telegraphing  to  such  an  extent  that  hardly  a  day 
passed  without  his  sending  one  of  the  pages  to 
the  telegraph  office  with  a  dispatch.  It  always 
meant  some  small  change  for  the  boy  that  car 
ried  one  for  him. 

Such  luxuries  as  a  bath-room  or  barber  shop 
were  unknown  in  the  building.  Potomac  water, 
which  later  supplied  the  city,  was  not  yet  intro 
duced.  Congress  was  served  for  drinking  pur 
poses  with  spring  water  which  was  conducted  by 
a  pipe  line  from  a  farm  beyond  the  northern 
limits  of  the  city.  For  all  other  purposes,  rain 
water  was  collected  from  the  roof  of  the  build 
ing. 

One  day  in  late  years,  I  wandered  back  to  the 
old  haunts  in  search  of  a  once  familiar  place,  but 
it  was  no  more.  I  refer  to  the  "Hole-in-the- 
Wall."  In  the  rear  of  the  Senate  post-office, 
near  the  rotunda,  was  formerly  situated  this  far- 


8  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

famed  restaurant,  which,  properly  speaking,  was 
the  Senate  Club.  No  outsider  dared  to  venture 
there  unless  he  was  accompanied  by  a  member. 
It  was  a  small  room  where  a  colored  cook  named 
Carter  presided.  Upon  second  thoughts  this 
"Hole-in-the-Wall"  should  have  been  called  the 
Democratic  Club,  because  the  Senate  was  con 
trolled  by  that  party,  and  in  this  historic  little 
room,  Democratic  senators  sat  at  meat  discussing 
their  questions  with  perfect  freedom.  The  Re 
publicans  were  very  scarce,  as  that  party  was  in 
its  infancy,  and  it  was  seldom  that  any  of  them 
interrupted  the  meetings.  Sometimes  after  an 
exciting  debate  on  the  floor,  the  participants 
would  come  arm  in  arm  merrily  trudging  along 
the  golden  way  that  led  from  the  chamber  to 
the  cook  shop.  An  amazing  change  after  the 
high  words  spoken  so  short  a  time  before. 
Strangers  seeing  these  platoons  of  statesmen 
making  for  the  post-office  in  such  glee,  might 
have  wondered  if  they  were  hopeful  of  very 
good  news  awaiting  them  in  the  mail;  but  if  they 
could  have  glanced  behind  the  scenes  and  have 
smelled  the  savory  odors  issuing  from  platter  and 
bowl,  they  might  have  said,  "No  wonder." 

Now  the  public  was  refreshed  at  less  expense, 
with  less  ado,  and  less  of  everything,  and  at  a 
shorter  distance  from  the  Senate  chamber.  As 
you  went  down  to  the  basement,  just  at  the  foot 
of  the  staircase,  there  was  a  stand  with  such 
wares  for  sale  as  cakes,  pies,  and  beer.  It  was 
the  only  place  where  a  lunch  could  be  had  with 
out  going  outside  of  the  Capitol.  Fastidious 
persons,  however,  went  either  to  Whitney's 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  9 

tel,  which  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  grounds, 
or  to  Caspari's  on  the  south  side. 

At  the  time  I  became  a  page,  Jesse  D.  Bright 
was  President  pro  tern  of  the  Senate.  Mr. 
King,  the  Vice-President,  who  was  elected  on  the 
ticket  with  Pierce  in  1853,  had  died.  Others  I 
have  seen  in  the  Vice-President's  chair  acting  as 
President  pro  tern  during  the  34th  and  35th  Con 
gresses  were,  besides  Mr.  Bright,  "Governor" 
Firzpatrick,  of  Alabama,  Foot,  of  Vermont, 
Wade,  of  Ohio,  and  Lafayette  S.  Foster,  of  Con 
necticut.  It  was  usual  to  change  the  chair  after 
the  business  of  the  morning  hour,  if  not  because 
of  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President,  then  merely 
in  compliment  to  some  leader. 

The  principal  officials  connected  with  the  Sen 
ate  were  Hon.  Asbury  Dickens,  of  North  Caro 
lina,  secretary;  James  M.  Jamison,  of  Virginia, 
postmaster;  Richard  Sutton,  official  reporter; 
and  Col.  Deming  R.  McNair,  of  Kentucky,  ser- 
geant-at-arms. 


IO  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


III. 

PAGE  LIFE. 

It  was  usual  to  retain  a  page,  providing  his 
work  was  up  to  the  mark,  until  he  became  seven 
teen  years  of  age.  The  boys  with  few  exceptions 
were  the  sons  of  widows,  and  the  pay  $2.40  a 
day,  including  Sundays,  during  the  session, 
which  with  extras  amounted  to  over  $75  a  month, 
was  a  neat  competence  for  a  small  family  of 
modest  pretensions.  The  extra  money  was  usu 
ally  earned  by  getting  up  albums  of  the  senators' 
autographs,  and  subscription  lists  for  the  pub 
lished  speeches.  When  an  important  speech  was 
delivered,  customarily  one  of  the  large  printing 
offices  would  have  it  for  publication.  Democratic 
speeches  were  printed  at  the  Globe  office;  and 
Republican  speeches  by  Buell  &  Blanchard, 
whose  office  was  where  the  old  Tremont  House 
stands,  corner  of  Indiana  avenue  and  Second 
street.  We  were  paid  thirty  cents  per  1000  on 
an  eight  page  speech,  and  fifty  cents  on  a  sixteen 
page  speech.  When  Douglas,  Seward,  Sumner, 
or  some  other  magic  name  headed  the  list  as  the 
author  of  the  speech,  with  a  subscription  of  50,- 
ooo  copies,  it  was  easy  to  make  as  high  as  thirty 
dollars  on  one  list.  The  sergeant-at-arms,  who 
had  charge  of  the  pages,  required  us  to  form  an 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  n 

organization,  the  presiding  officer  of  which 
would  assign  either  albums  or  lists  to  the  several 
pages.  There  were  about  twelve  of  us.  The 
proceeds  we  deposited  with  the  treasurer,  who 
held  all  funds  until  the  end  of  each  month,  at 
which  time  it  was  equally  divided  among  us. 

The  president  of  our  organization  was  Arthur 
P.  Gorman.  He,  as  a  boy,  exhibited  those  ster 
ling  qualities  which  developed  the  man  and  the 
distinquished  senator.  His  temperament  was 
very  even  and  kindly,  always  considerate  of  the 
feelings  of  others;  a  youth  of  very  few  words, 
except  on  rare  occasions.  He  was  prompt  and 
truthful,  ever  attentive  to  what  was  intrusted  to 
him,  and  a  favorite  with  all.  Some  years  after 
he  became  a  senator,  I  met  him  on  a  number  of 
occasions  and  found  him  of  the  same  pleasant 
and  cordial  disposition.  Another  page  pretty 
much  of  Gorman's  stripe,  was  Charles  Clement 
Ivey,  known  as  the  page  to  the  Vice-President. 
Such  an  attachment  existed  between  himself  and 
Mr.  Breckinridge,  that  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War  he  followed  his  friend  South,  and 
when  the  former  Vice-president  became  a  briga 
dier  general  in  the  southern  army  "Clem"  Ivey 
was  appointed  an  aide  on  his  staff.  Among  the 
other  pages  I  am  pleased  to  recall  John  P.  D. 
Caton,  now  of  the  Government  Printing  Office; 
Leonard  A.  Frailey,  pay-director  of  the  Navy; 
Thomas  A.  Lynch,  a  naval  engineer;  and  James 
Y.  Potts,  chief  clerk  of  the  Police  Court,  of 
Washington,  D.  C.  The  sons  of  senators,  for  the 
sake  of  the  pleasure  they  derived  from  the  exper 
ience,  often  acted  as  pages,  gratuitously.  Sena- 


12  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

tor  Douglas'  sons,  Robert  and  Stephen,  Jr.,  and 
Senator  Bright's  son  Jesse,  at  different  times 
were  volunteers. 

Page  life  was  in  those  days,  and  it  must  be 
now,  the  school  of  manners  and  manliness.  No 
boy  could  have  spent  that  much  time  at  the  im 
pressionable  age,  in  such  close  contact  with  those 
high-minded  men  without  taking  on  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  the  attributes  of  courteous,  manly 
character.  We  were  drilled  also  in  the  exercise 
of  care  and  promptness  in  the  performance  of 
our  duties.  If  a  page  was  called  upon  to  go  on 
an  errand,  and  failed  to  pay  strict  attention  to 
what  he  was  told,  he  would  never  be  called  upon 
by  that  same  senator  a  second  time.  So  it  de 
volved  upon  us  to  lend  our  ears,  eyes,  and  our 
whole  being  to  the  instructions  given. 

So  utterly  opposed  was  the  Senate  to  the  in 
trusion  of  outside  influences  that  the  clamorous- 
ness  of  a  creaking  shoe  was  profoundly  pro 
hibited,  on  which  account  all  pages  were  required 
to  were  slippers  while  in  the  chamber.  I  hardly 
think  the  boys  had  noisy  shoes,  but  we  were  on 
the  march  so  continually,  that  to  prevent  the  pos 
sibility  of  a  tumult  arising  from  these  quarters, 
we  had  to  wear  the  pumps.  I  understand  the 
regulation  is  in  force  to  this  day. 

As  before  stated  there  were  no  secretaries  to 
senators  at  that  time;  so  after  adjournment  each 
day  members  had  their  correspondence  to  detain 
them.  It  was  required  of  the  pages  to  stay  until 
every  senator  had  left  the  chamber.  All  letters 
for  the  mail  were  handed  to  us  to  be  sealed.  The 
table  where  the  sealing  w&s  done  was  situated  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  13 

the  lobby,  and  a  candlestick  and  sealing  wax 
were  always  at  hand.  This  was  a  busy  bureau 
in  the  late  afternoons,  and  as  boys  will  be  boys, 
they  made  as  much  fun  out  of  it  as  was  per- 
missable  with  quiet  behavior,  some  of  them,  how 
ever,  going  so  far  in  the  spirit  of  daredeviltry 
that  they  would  flourish  the  burning  stick  of  wax 
and  let  fall  the  seals  where  they  pleased,  some? 
times,  as  it  would  happen,  on  several  letters  in 
the  most  uncommon  spots,  in  which  event  the 
disgrace  was  hastily  dropped  in  the  post-office. 
Then  all  the  boys'  lips  would  have  to  be  sealed, 
that  is,  metaphorically  speaking.  Occasionally, 
one  of  the  letters  bearing  an  overplus  of  seals, 
would  crop  up  unexpectedly,  and  then  woe  to  the 
boy  who  had  committed  the  offence. 

A  time  comes  to  every  boy  when  he  feels  it  is 
the  golden  moment  of  his  life.  It  came  to  me  in 
this  way.  Senator  Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania, 
called  me  one  day,  and  pleasantly  said :  "My  son, 
here  is  an  important  letter  which  I  wish  you  to 
place  in  the  hands  of  President  Buchanan.  Now 
be  careful  not  to  make  any  mistake  in  its  delivery 
to  him  in  person."  I  informed  the  sergeant-at- 
arms  of  the  import  of  my  errand,  and  leaving  the 
Capitol,  proceeded  on  my  way  to  the  White 
House,  in  an  omnibus.  The  great  weight  of  re 
sponsibility  which  rested  upon  me,  seemed  to 
make  it  harder  for  the  horses  to  pull,  and  I  sat 
there  meditating  upon  the  whole  matter  when 
suddenly  at  a  point  nearly  opposite  Willard's,  I 
observed  the  President  walking  on  the  pavement 
in  front  of  the  hotel.  I  was  out  of  the  omnibus 
in  a  hurry,  and  approaching  His  Excellency  with 


14  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

my  hat  in  hand,  said:  "Mr.  Buchanan,  I  have 
been  directed  by  Senator  Bigler  to  give  you  this 
letter  in  person."  The  President  smiled,  thanked 
me,  and  opened  it.  I  stood  there  with  my  hat 
in  hand,  scarcely  daring  to  breathe  in  the  august 
presence,  until  I  saw  his  eyes  turned  on  me  and 
heard  him  say  "No  answer ;"  and  overcome  with 
excitement  took  the  next  'bus  back  to  the  Cap 
itol. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  15 


IV. 

THE  CITY  FROM   THE  CAPITOL  DOME. 

Fifty  years  ago,  looking  down  upon  the  "mag 
nificent  distances"  from  the  dome,  the  seat  of 
our  national  government  presented  very  little  of 
attractiveness.  There  was  Pennsylvania  avenue, 
a  dirt  road,  whose  surface  was  undulating,  caus 
ing  vehicles  to  toss  upon  its  bosom  like  ships  at 
sea.  At  Second  treet  it  crossed  Tiber  Creek  on 
a  wooden  bridge.  There  were  no  street  cars,  the 
public  being  conveyed  in  omnibuses  which  ran 
on  this  thoroughfare  from  the  Capitol  to  old 
High  street,  Georgetown.  Senators  who  did  not 
possess  private  carriages,  yet  wishing  to  ride, 
were  thrown  upon  the  alternatives  of  an  omni 
bus  or  a  hired  hack.  Hacks  were  always  to  be 
found  standing  in  front  of  the  hotels.  The  Jehu 
of  that  period  was  the  anthropoidal  form  of  a 
species  that  evolved  into  the  highwayman  of  re 
cent  years. 

On  the  west  embankment  of  the  Tiber,  adja 
cent  to  the  "Avenue,"  stood  the  serene  old  B. 
&  O.  railroad  station,  where  the  "lightning  ex 
press"  ever  and  anon  rumbled  in  with  its  human 
freight  from  overland  afar;  and  travelers  com 
ing  with  perfect  impunity  and  carpet  bags,  for 
an  invasion  of  the  Capital  city  and  the  halls  of 


16  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Congress,  eddied  along  the  great  thoroughfare, 
all  agog  to  pass  through  thick  and  thin  to  find 
out  just  what  Congress  did  and  how  it  fared  at 
Washington;  and  often  with  the  other  object 
also,  of  seeking  office  in  the  departmental  ser 
vice.  The  small  hotels  and  boarding  houses 
along  the  south  side  of  the  avenue  accommodated 
these  transients  as  a  rule ;  and  most  of  their  time 
while  sojourning  here  was  divided  between  the 
Capitol  and  the  hotels  where  senators  lived, 
standing  around  waiting  for  the  chance  of  a  pri 
vate  interview.  The  hotels  principally  patronized 
by  senators  were  all  located  on  "the  avenue," 
they  were  Willard's,  Brown's,  the  Kirkwood 
House,  the  National,  and  the  St.  Charles. 

The  view  up  the  Mall  began  with  the  Botani 
cal  gardens,  a  spot  that  seemed  to  have  been 
plucked  out  of  the  heart  of  a  tropical  land  and 
planted  in  our  midst.  Always  a  favorite  resort 
for  members  of  Congress,  it  was  with  pride  that 
they  conducted  their  visiting  friends  through  its 
pleasant  precincts.  Beyond  stood  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution,  whose  architectural  grace  and 
beauty  has  surely  never  been  surpassed  in  any 
public  edifice.  The  next  object,  and  the  last  to 
arrest  our  attention  on  the  line  of  the  Mall,  was 
the  uncompleted  Washington  Monument,  a  mere 
block  standing  144  feet  in  air,  and  waiting  there 
for  Congress  to  do  something.  ^ 

Far  toward  the  western  horizon,  Georgetown 
loomed  up  with  a  haze  hanging  over  its  house 
tops,  the  unmistakable  sign  of  industry.  On  its 
waterside,  the  spars  of  tall  ships  were  visible; 
for  it  was  a  port  of  some  consequence  in  the  trad- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  17 

ing  world,  and  many  vessels  from  the  West  In 
dies,  with  cargoes  of  sugar,  molasses,  fruits,  and 
tobacco,  dropped  anchor  here.  On  the  high 
banks  of  the  river  above  the  town  rose  the  grace 
ful  spires  of  Georgetown  College,  at  that  time 
as  well  as  now,  an  institution  of  repute. 

In  a  course  running  nearly  east  and  west,  and 
just  south  of  "the  avenue"  the  murky  waters  of 
the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal  washed  down  and 
emptied  into  the  Tiber.  Bordering  this  water 
way  were  lumber  and  wood  yards;  and  during 
the  summer  time,  scows  and  pungies  brought 
down  watermelons,  unshipping  them  at  points 
along  by  the  market.  Darkies  had  good  old 
times  on  the  edge  of  this  canal,  their  dusky  pres 
ence  completing  the  picture  of  the  Southland. 

To  the  northwest  of  the  Capitol,  within  a 
radius  of  not  more  than  six  or  seven  squares, 
was  a  section  of  the  city  where  senatorial  resi 
dence  was  chiefly  desired.  Many  of  those  well- 
constructed  houses  stand  to-day  to  mark  the  so 
cial  center  of  this  period.  On  I  street,  imme 
diately  west  of  New  Jersey  avenue,  three  noble- 
looking  houses  with  broad  fronts  and  generously 
wide  doors  and  windows,  were  built  by  the  three 
friends — Senators  Douglas,  Rice  and  Breckin- 
ridge.  Douglas  resided  in  the  end  house  on  the 
west,  whose  lovely  old  garden  with  stately  trees, 
speaks  in  these  days  with  the  language  of  its 
deep  foliage,  and  tells  of  the  gracious  women 
and  courtly  men  who  strolled  out  on  the  velvet 
lawn  and  yielding  to  the  appeal  of  lovely  even 
ings  engaged  themselves  in  happy  converse  until 
late  hours.  (This  house  in  after  years  became 


i8  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

the  residence  of  the  Apostolic  Delegate,  and  the 
one  owned  by  Breckinridge  became  the  home  of 
General  Grant,  subsequently  of  General  Sher 
man,  and  latterly  of  Mayor  Emery.)  Two  other 
houses  renowned  for  lavish  hospitality  were  the 
homes  of  Ex-Mayor  Seaton,  on  E  street,  and 
that  of  Ex-Mayor  Gales,  on  the  heights  north  of 
the  city.  Numbering  among  their  guests  were 
many  persons  of  high  standing  in  official  life  and 
in  letters. 

To  the  east  of  the  Capitol,  and  directly  facing 
it,  stood  a  row  of  fashionable  boarding  houses, 
where  quite  a  colony  of  Congressional  people 
were  lodged.  At  the  corner  of  First  and  A  street, 
northwest,  was  situated  the  "old  Capitol,"  a 
building  which,  when  the  British  burned  the  for 
mer  Capitol  in  1814,  was  fitted  up  for  the  tem 
porary  use  of  Congress.  Surveying  the  panora 
ma  lastly  from  the  dome,  one  spot  on  the  eastern 
outskirts  of  the  city,  draws  our  attention.  It  is 
the  Congressional  Cemetery  with  its  remarkable 
headstones,  so  closely  allied  to  our  subject  by  rea 
son  of  its  having  received 

"Each  in  his  narrow  cell  forever  laid" 

many  whose  voices  once  rang  in  legislative  halls, 
and  are  now  stilled  to  eternity. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  19 


SENATORIAL  DIGNITY — A  GROUP  OF  LEADING 
LIGHTS — MALLORY'S  FAITH. 

With  the  possible  exception  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  the  most  dignified  body  in 
our  land  was,  and  is  now,  the  Senate  at  Wash 
ington.  There  is  no  other  place  where  a  body  of 
legislators  uphold  so  high  a  standard  in  this  re 
gard.  They  are  also  exceedingly  sensitive  on 
the  score  of  having  honor  and  respect  paid  to 
their  deliberations.  This  is  carried  to  such  an  ex 
tent  that  even  when  not  in  session  and  but  few 
occupy  their  seats,  rapt  solemnity  reigns  over  the 
hall.  It  was  always  so  as  I  remember.  And  so 
all-pervading  was  the  sensation  of  awe,  that  an 
outsider  scarce  dared  whisper.  His  imagination 
without  control  was  loosed ;  it  seemed  to  him  that 
from  every  nook  and  corner  spectres  of  a  past 
age  peered  out  as  if  they  lurked  there  as  guard 
ians  of  the  old  order  of  things. 

Every  senator  has  a  duty  self-imposed,  of 
using  all  his  endeavors  in  support  of  the  sover 
eign  dignity  that  has  become  proverbial.  One 
day  I  recall,  a  few  minutes  after  adjournment,  a 
representative  from  the  House  came  into  the 
chamber,  and  taking  the  seat  of  an  absent  mem 
ber,  leaned  back  nonchalantly  and  put  his  feet  up 


20  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

on  the  desk.  He  was  a  tall  man  and  conspicu 
ously  longer  from  his  waist  down  than  from  that 
point  up ;  so  much  so  indeed,  that  he  might  have 
been  said  to  be  long  of  limb.  It  was  Representative 
Farnsworth,  of  Illinois,  of  whom  I  speak;  and 
his  attitude  at  that  moment  was  not  only  grossly 
at  variance  with  the  traditions  of  the  Senate,  but 
very  awkward  to  say  the  least.  Senator  Wilson, 
though  a  friend  of  Mr.  Farnsworth's,  was  quick 
to  notice  the  unusual  scene.  He  directed  me,  as 
I  happened  to  be  near,  to  go  to  the  gentleman  and 
say  that  was  not  the  proper  position  for  anyone 
to  assume  while  in  the  Senate  chamber.  I  re 
peated  the  message  as  it  was  given,  whereupon 
Mr.  Farnsworth  took  his  feet  down  and  laugh 
ingly  said:  "You're  more  dignified  over  here 
than  we  are  in  the  House."  He  was  certainly 
right  about  that. 

Senator  Wilson  was  an  index  of  decorum,  al 
ways  preserving  an  austere  manner  in  the  cham 
ber.  He  represented  the  proud  old  common 
wealth  of  Massachusetts,  and  he  represented  her 
with  statesmanship  the  highest.  His  was  a  most 
remarkable  beginning,  and  the  pattern  of  his  life 
was  like  that  of  many  of  America's  famous  men. 
Through  hardship  and  struggle  he  fought  the 
battle  on  the  hill  of  life,  inch  by  inch,  ever  press 
ing  forward  to  new  ground  until  at  length  he 
reached  the  summit  of  success.  Born  in  a  small 
town  of  New  Hampshire,  in  a  home  of  poverty, 
he  was  forced  at  the  early  age  of  ten  years,  to 
seek  an  apprenticeship  to  a  farmer  named  Wil 
son.  His  own  name  was  Jeremiah  Colbath,  but 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  2t 

he  adopted  his  benefactor's  name  by  special  act 
of  legislature.  Eleven  years  were  spent  in  agri 
cultural  pursuits,  each  year  serving  to  strengthen 
him  more  and  more  in  the  hardihood  of  New 
England  character.  By  the  time  of  the  expira 
tion  of  his  indentures,  he  had  read  nearly  one 
thousand  volumes,  chiefly  of  history  and  biogra 
phy,  and  these  books  to  the  ambitious  youth  be 
came  the  templets  upon  which  he  fashioned  his 
career.  He  now  set  out  and  walked  to  Natick, 
where  he  addressed  himself  to  the  occupation  of 
shoemaking.  As  a  shoemaker  he  had  ample  op 
portunity  for  thought,  which  by  long  use  formed 
in  his  character  a  valuable  attribute.  Some  years 
later  we  find  him  a  prosperous  shoe  manufac 
turer.  In  1840,  he  became  active  in  General  Har 
rison's  campaign,  making  a  great  many  speeches, 
and  helping  to  win  the  victory  which  swept  him 
into  the  State  legislature.  In  1855,  he  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  to  fill  the  vacancy 
occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Everett. 
The  Whig  party  of  Massachusetts  was  to  the 
backbone  a  party  of  aristocrats,  dominated  by 
men  of  culture  and  education,  and  although  pro 
fessing  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the  working 
masses,  they  carefully  avoided  too  close  contact 
with  them.  Mr.  Everett — a  man  of  high  birth 
and  advanced  scholarship,  an  associate  of  the 
English  nobility — had  long  represented  the  party 
in  the  Senate.  Now  the  Natick  shoemaker  as 
pired  to  fill  the  vacant  seat.  It  was  considered  a 
disgrace  to  the  old  commonwealth,  but  Henry 
Wilson  was  elected  nevertheless,  and  while  he 
was  not  a  man  of  letters  such  as  Edward  Everett, 


22  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

he  was  a  dignified  gentleman,  a  master  of  politi 
cal  questions,  a  fearless  and  faithful  legislator, 
and  was  twice  re-elected.  An  untiring  worker 
during  the  Civil  War,  when  he  was  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  he  earned  the 
title  of  "The  Soldier's  Friend."  In  1872,  Mr. 
Wilson  became  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  on  the  ticket  with  General  Grant. 

The  following  ringing  words  spoken  by  him  in 
reply  to  a  speech  of  a  southern  senator  in  which 
it  was  claimed  that  "hireling  manual  laborers" 
were  essentially  slaves,  reflect  so  much  upon  his 
own  life  that  they  are  not  out  of  place  in  this 
sketch,  although  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  dis 
cussion  : 

"Sir,  I  am  the  son  of  a  "hireling  manual  la 
borer/  who  with  the  frosts  of  seventy  winters  on 
his  brow,  lives  by  daily  labor.  I,  too,  have  been 
a  'hireling  manual  laborer.'  Poverty  cast  its 
dark  and  chilling  shadow  over  the  home  of  my 
childhood ;  and  want  was  sometimes  there — an 
unbidden  guest.  At  the  age  of  ten  years,  to  aid 
him  who  gave  me  being  in  keeping  the  gaunt 
spectre  from  the  hearth  of  the  mother  who  bore 
me,  I  left  the  home  of  my  boyhood  and  went 
forth  to  earn  my  bread  by  daily  labor." 
i  At  the  American  National  Council,  held  in 
Philadelphia  in  1855,  Mr.  Wilson,  the  logical 
leader  of  the  opponents  of  slavery,  while  making 
an  address,  observed  a  southerner  to  cross  the 
hall  with  a  revolver  in  hand,  and  approach  very 
near  him,  where  he  took  a  seat,  with  the  intention 
of  a  threat.  The  slaveholder  had  misjudged  his 
man,  for  the  insult  was  rebuked  in  these  round 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  23 

sentences :  "Threats  have  no  terror  for  free  men. 
I  am  ready  to  meet  argument  with  argument, 
scorn  with  scorn,  and  if  need  be  blow  with  blow. 
It  is  time  the  champions  of  slavery  in  the  South 
realize  the  fact  that  the  past  is  theirs,  the  future 
ours." 

There  is  but  a  word  necessary  to  be  said  in 
introducing  the  New  York  senator,  William  H. 
Seward.  The  Secretary  of  State  in  Lincoln's 
cabinet,  is  commonly  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  notable  of  American  statesmen.  Lofty  in 
thought,  cool  in  judgment,  rock-grounded  in  ar 
gument,  he  was  decidedly  impressive  as  a 
speaker.  His  course  was  always  deliberate  and 
wise.  Very  thorough  in  style,  a  model  lawyer, 
an  unflinching  advocate,  and  a  man  of  great 
gravity  in  all  transactions,  Mr.  Seward  easily 
ranged  with  the  forefront  of  the  leaders  in  the 
Senate.  He  was  conspicuous  in  the  great  de 
bates,  and  as  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  the 
cause  of  abolition,  he  was  unyielding  even  on 
infinitely  small  points  where  pro-slavery  con 
testants  might  possibly  gain  an  inch.  He  took  a 
firm  stand  on  the  remarkable  Kansas  question, 
as  will  be  seen  in  the  pages  following. 

On  one  occasion  (February,  1856)  in  a  speech 
on  an  appropriation  bill,  he  alluded  to  the  Senate 
in  these  words : 

"I  confess,  therefore,  sir,  to  an  earnest  desire, 
a  strong  desire,  to  retain  for  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  the  privileges  and  rights  which  it  has 
exercised  from  the  foundation  of  the  government 
to  this |_.,day. ,^I am  not  amongst  those  who  under- 


24  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

value  the  patriotism,  or  the  intelligence,  or  the 
virtue  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  No 
man  is  more  reverential  of  the  virtue  of  the  dead 
of  past  ages,  or  of  their  wisdom,  than  I  am;  no 
man  is  less  likely  to  be  extravagant  in  praises  of 
their  wisdom  than  I  am ;  no  man  is  less  likely  to 
be  extravagant  in  praises  of  the  wisdom  and  vir 
tue  of  the  living;  yet,  sir,  I  am  one  of  those  who 
regard  it  as  amongst  the  caprices,  and  the  follies, 
and  the  absurdities  of  this  age,  that  we  are  ac 
customed  to  suppose  our  fathers  were  wiser  than 
we  are,  or  more  virtuous  than  we  are.  Sir,  I 
think  that  the  sun  of  heaven  never  shone  upon  a 
body  of  more  patriotic  men  than  that  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  address.  It  is  for  me  a  pride 
which  I  shall  carry  to  my  grave,  that  I  was 
deemed  worthy  bv  the  State  to  which  I  belong,  to 
be  associated,  by  their  act,  as  a  member  of  this 
august  body.  So  far  from  its  having  deteri 
orated  I  believe  it  has  gained  both  in  virtue  and 
in  wisdom." 

Elected  first  to  succeed  Henry  Clay,  John  J. 
Crittenden,  the  distinguished  Kentuckian,  served 
his  State  in  the  Senate  many  years;  was  twice 
appointed  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States, 
served  a  term  as  Governor  of  his  State,  and  was 
a  senator  again  in  the  34th  and  35th  Congress. 
He  was  not  only  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  Ken 
tucky,  but  one  of  the  ablest  of  American  states 
men.  Broad-minded,  generous,  and  brave,  he 
was  an  advocate  of  measures  looking  to  the 
pacification  of  the  whole  country  at  the  time 
when  difficulties  were  arising  between  the  sec- 


a 


WLUAU   H. 


HOUSTON. 


JOWN    »},  CRlTTENDEN. 
P.  HALE.  . 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  25 

tions,  as  an  example  of  which  patriotic  princi 
ples,  the  following  noble  address,  made  March 
17,  1856  (at  the  age  of  seventy-one),  in  a  re 
joinder  to  Senator  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  is 
quoted : 

"I  am  neither  of  the  Democratic  nor  of  the 
Republican  party.  I  wear  no  party  shackles.  I 
am  here  as  the  Senator  of  "Old  Kentucky" — 
brave  and  noble  old  commonwealth.  My  ambi 
tion  is  to  act  in  her  spirit  and  by  her  inspiration. 
I  did  not  come  here  to  act  in  the  character  of  a 
partisan. 

"Long  service  and  experience  in  public  affairs 
have  divested  me  of  much  of  the  misconception, 
the  prejudice,  and  the  passion  that  belongs  to  the 
partisan;  and  upon  lately  taking  my  seat  here, 
probably  in  the  last  term  of  my  public  service,  it 
was  my  intention  and  my  hope  to  act  rather  the 
part  of  patriot  than  that  of  party  man. 

"I  am  a  true  son  of  the  South ;  may  prosperity 
fill  all  her  borders,  and  sunshine  forever  rest 
upon  her  head,  but  for  all  this,  I  do  not  love  the 
Union  the  less.  I  am  a  true  citizen  of  the  United 
States ;  I  claim  the  whole  of  it  as  my  great  coun 
try;  and  for  the  preservation  of  that  Union 
which  makes  it  so,  I  will  always  be  ready  to  say 
and  do.  It  is  in  this  spirit,  sir,  that  I  have  en 
deavored  humbly  to  do  my  duty — my  duty  to  the 
South,  and  my  duty  to  the  whole  country." 

The  Chippewa  Indians,  and  in  fact  the  Sioux' 
and  Winnebago  tribes  also,  whose  lands  covered 
a  greater  portion  of  Minnesota,  had  an  unfail 
ing  friend  in  the  Senate  in  the  person  of 


26  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

one  whom  they  called  in  their  strange  tongue  a 
name  which  is  rendered  "White  Rice"  in  English. 
Henry  M.  Rice,  senator  from  Minnesota,  was 
that  friend.  He  was  a  staunch  American,  and  in 
his  characteristics  he  bore  the  trace  of  that  sturdi- 
ness  which  animated  the  frames  of  our  early 
pioneers.  His  birthplace  was  Waitsfield,  Ver 
mont.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  emigrated  to  the 
frontier  town  of  Detroit,  and  two  years  later 
shouldered  a  pack  and  trudged  two  hundred  miles 
westward  to  a  part  of  the  country  but  little  more 
than  a  wilderness.  He  became  a  trader,  and  for 
many  years  controlled  the  trading  interests  of 
that  region.  In  the  early  days,  back  in  Vermont, 
he  had  studied  law,  and  in  this  new  country  he 
applied  his  knowledge  of  that  profession  toward 
securing  the  passage  of  many  laws,  and  the  fram 
ing  of  a  State  constitution,  preparatory  to  the 
admission  of  Minnesota  into  the  Union.  His 
election  to  the  United  States  Senate  was  an  honor 
wholly  due  to  one  who  had  rendered  such  valu 
able  service  to  the  State. 

He  was  such  a  man  as  suited  the  environment 
of  the  Minnesota  wilds,  where  he  had  followed 
the  old  Indian  trails,  and  had  by  kind  contact 
cemented  many  friendships  around  the  campfires. 
He  had  dwelt  and  had  hunted  with  the  redskins 
long  enough  to  learn  the  traits  of  their  character, 
and  to  know  their  needs  and,  therefore,  their 
deserts.  He  grasped  within  the  compass  of  his 
broad  sense  of  right,  a  full  appreciation  of  a  de 
clining  race  in  the  tenants  of  the  wigwam ;  and  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  he  was  a  force 
working  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  those 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  27 

tribes  whose  trust  he  had  won  in  fair  and  manly 
intercourse  upon  the  far  borders  of  the  north 
west. 

"White  Rice"  went  in  and  out  among  them  in 
their  haunts,  as  one  who  wore  a  wampum  in 
token  of  high  privilege  and  power  in  their  coun 
cils  and  in  their  hearts. 

In  the  island  of  Trinidad,  Stephen  Russell 
Mallory  was  born.  His  boyhood  was  spent  at 
Havana  until  the  death  of  his  father  when  the 
widow  and  her  son  removed  to  Florida.  Al 
though  his  father  was  a  native  of  Connecticut, 
Stephen  Mallory  had  resided  with  Spanish- 
Americans  for  so  many  years  and  had  married  a 
Cuban  lady,  there  was  every  reason  for  his  hold 
ing  in  his  heart  the  most  tender  feelings  toward 
these  Castilian  people.  He  was  senator  from  Flor 
ida  from  1851  to  1861,  when  he  joined  the  Con 
federacy.  In  1858,  he  was  proffered  the  appoint 
ment  of  Minister  to  Spain,  but  declined. 

The  Senate  having  under  consideration  a  bill 
providing  for  the  acquisition  of  Cuba  by  nego 
tiation  (February,  1859),  Mr.  Mallory  made  an 
inspired  address  in  defence  of  the  Cubans  and 
their  religion.  In  part  he  spoke  as  follows : 

"It  is  said  that  Cubans  are  Catholic  and  there 
fore  averse  to,  and  unfitted  for,  liberty,  and  that 
the  Catholic  Church  is  hostile  to  freedom.  An 
assertion  so  irreconcilable  with  the  truth  of  his 
tory  scarcely  merits  a  serious  answer ;  but,  sir,  if 
this  charge  shall  ever  be  made  under  circum 
stances  requiring  a  response,  Heaven  grant  that 
the  Church  may  have  the  privilege  of  confronting 


28  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

her  enemies  here  before  the  freest  and  greatest 
forum  upon  the  earth.  As  one  of  her  humblest 
followers,  and  a  most  indifferent  one,  I  regret  to 
say — perhaps  the  only  one  in  the  body,  I  stand 
always  ready  in  her  defence;  but,  sir,  she  needs 
no  defence.  There  she  stands,  with  her  historic 
truth  and  traditionary  love  of  eighteen  centuries 
clustering  around  her  head,  her  annals  illustrated 
and  adorned  by  the  proudest  names  and  monu 
ments  of  earth;  her  teachings  sublime  and  uni 
versal,  her  morning  sacrifices  to  the  everliving 
God.  It  is  also  alleged  that  the  Cubans  are  igno 
rant;  that  they  are  satisfied  with  Spanish  domin 
ion,  and  desire  no  change.  Sir,  I  profess  to  know 
something  of  the  Cubans,  and  I  feel  bound  to  re 
mind  those  gentlemen  who  have  dealt  here  in 
wholesale  abuse  and  in  some  inuendoes  against 
their  indisposition  to  liberty,  against  their  inca 
pacity  for  self-government,  against  their  ignor 
ance  and  superstition,  that  in  of  about  six  hun 
dred  thousand  whites  they  sustain  one  daily  jour 
nal  at  least  having  nine  thousand  daily  circula 
tion;  while  in  the  mother  country  there  is  not  a 
single  paper  that  has  two  thousand,  and  that  daily 
journal,  about  the  size  of  our  Journal  of  Com 
merce,  is  twice  the  size  of  any  in  Spain.  They 
have  sought  the  United  States  upon  every  occa 
sion  ;  and  those  you  have  seen  here  are  fair  speci 
mens  of  the  Cubans.  In  private  virtues,  I  do  not 
believe  they  will  compare  unfavorably  with  our 
people.  The  spirit  of  hospitality  rests  upon 
every  Creole  mansion  in  Cuba.  Most  especially 
does  it  to  an  American.  The  miserable  pretense 
has  been  set  up,  and  sometimes  urged  here  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  29 

this  people  crushed  and  downtrodden  as  they  are, 
do  not  desire  a  change  of  government.  It  is  the 
most  preposterous  presumption  on  earth,  that  a 
people  thus  welcoming  the  sun  in  her  coming, 
and  her  vesper  bells  cheering  his  departure 
throughout  the  bounds  of  earth.  Sir,  let  the 
charge  be  seriously  made,  and  its  refutation  will 
be  found  in  every  forum  and  upon  every  field 
where  freedom  has  been  lost  or  won." 


30  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


VI. 

HUMORISTS  OF  THE  SENATE. 

He  who  brightens  the  dull  path  of  logic  with  a 
glimmer  of  absurdity,  or  a  humorous  reflection 
here  and  there,  makes  it  much  easier  for  himself 
to  be  understood,  oftentimes;  and  it  enables  him 
to  take  a  fresh  hold  upon  his  audience.  A  little 
nonsense  was  always  relished  by  the  Senate,  and 
in  that  body  there  were  some  master  wits.  "Sam" 
Houston,  of  Texas,  John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  "Bob"  Johnson,  of  Arkansas,  were  the 
most  noted.  Others  there  were  who  recognizing 
the  force  of  humor  could  not  refrain  from 
sprinkling  their  speeches  with  drollery ;  and  some 
again  were  funny  when  they  were  in  serious 
mood.  For  instance,  fancy  a  leader  in  parlia 
mentary  debate,  rising  and  creating  almost  a 
tumult  by  rapping  vigorously  for  one  of  the 
pages  to  bring  him  snuff ;  for  the  pages  who  car 
ried  snuff  boxes  had  a  bean  which  kept  the  con 
tents  moist  and  in  good  condition,  better  than  the 
senators  themselves  could  keep  it. 

I  remember  some  men  who  were  very  excep 
tional  characters.  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  was 
one.  He  was  often  comical,  though  he  may  not 
always  have  intended  to  be  so.  He  wore  a  wig  of 
reddish  hue,  and  when  he  waxed  warm  over  an 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  31 

argument,  this  wig  would  slip  a  trifle  to  one  side, 
giving  him,  to  say  the  least,  a  wry  look.  Then 
he  had  a  habit  of  ordering  a  glass  of  lemonade 
to  be  placed  before  him  while  making  a  speech, 
and  would  take  a  sip  of  it  after  each  dry  remark. 

Robert  W.  Johnson,  or  "Bob"  Johnson,  as  he 
was  called,  had  the  true  sense  of  the  ridiculous. 
He  was  a  man  of  generous  impulses,  and  those 
genial  traits  that  endear  one  to  his  fellows.  A 
good  speaker,  he  was  not  blind  to  the  openings 
where  a  little  fun  could  be  inserted,  and  he  made 
the  Senate  roar  with  laughter.  At  two  o'clock 
one  morning  (in  1856),  when  there  was  a  dead 
lock,  and  everybody  was  drowsy,  he  roused  them 
to  almost  continuous  laughter. 

He  said: 

"It  is  now  two  o'clock.  One  of  our  rules  is 
that  'no  member  shall  speak  more  than  twice  in 
any  one  debate  the  same  day,  without  the  leave  of 
the  Senate.'  Whether  this  rule  has  been  ob 
served  or  not,  I  shall  not  say,  but  as  I  have  de 
clared,  it  is  now  two  o'clock." 

A  Senator:  "It  wants  four  minutes  of  that 
hour." 

Mr.  Johnson :  "That  is  very  near  it.  I  wish  to 
ask  whether  it  is  supposed  that  a  vote  will  be 
taken  on  this  bill  after  a  while?  There  is  no 
doubt  whatever,  judging  from  the  deep-toned 
feeling  which  exists  here  (laughter),  and  from 
the  exhibit  of  the  numerous  and  well-filled  seats 
and  benches  around  me(  renewed  laughter)  that 
the  excitement  of  the  debate  stirs  to  the  very 
depths  the  feelings  of  everyone  on  both  sides  of 
the  House.  Not  one  seat  is  vacant,  for  I  see 


32  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

them  all  filled.     (Laughter.)     Does  not  this  cir 
cumstance  justify  us  in  coming  to  a  vote? 

"Sir,  the  hour  is  late.  In  fact  I  might  have 
said  the  same  thing  with  perfect  truth,  two  hours 
ago.  It  was  a  late  hour  then,  the  session  has  been 
protracted  to  an  unusual  and  extraordinary 
period.  I  have  listened  with  great  pleasure,  and 
I  hope  with  much  instruction,  to  the  many  views 
which  have  been  presented  by  various  senators; 
but  I  think  we  have  at  last  got  more  than  enough 
of  a  good  thing.  The  rules  prescribe  how  often 
a  senator  is  permitted  to  speak  on  a  single  sub 
ject  on  the  same  day.  I  have  already  read  that 
rule.  It  may  be,  sir,  that  there  is  a  great  deal 
which  has  not  been  said  that  ought  to  be  said  on 
this  subject.  It  may  be  that  the  theme  is  far  from 
being  exhausted.  It  may  be  that  the  public  mind 
needs  enlightenment.  It  may  be  that  the  Senate 
requires  light.  Perhaps  speaking  will  afford  that 
light.  I  have  no  doubt  of  it,  from  the  evident 
attention  which  we  find  here  from  the  great  num 
ber  who  wait  and  listen.  (Laughter.)  This 
should  satisfy  us  that  that  which  is  spoken  wisely 
and  well  must  have  its  effect,  and  may  turn  the 
tide  on  this  question.  I  do  not  know  by  what  spirit 
we  are  to  be  governed,  or  what  direction  our 
votes  are  to  be  borne.  At  this  late  hour,  two 
o'clock,  I  see  the  chamber  so  full,  and  hear  all 
aro:md  me  the  voice  of  discontent  portraying  to 
everyone  the  deep  interest  which  the  subject  ex 
cites,  and  I  hear  it  from  the  recesses  of  the 
chamber  behind  us,  that  I  am  sure  we  will  soon 
have  the  vote.  I  am  sorry  that  gentlemen  should 
think  it  necessary  to  teach  others,  and  force  their 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  33 

convictions  on  them,  in  the  midst  of  the  evident 
misery,  the  great  excitement,  and  the  almost  rag 
ing  madness  produced  by  this  debate  on  those 
who  are  listening  to  it  in  every  window,  and  all 
around  the  chamber.  (Laughter.)  Sir,  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  senator  is  disposed  to  violate  the 
fourth  rule,  which  says  that  'no  member  shall 
speak  more  than  twice  in  one  debate  on  the  same 
day !'  This  is  a  gentle  intimation  that  no  gentle 
man  is  expected  to  detain  the  Senate  unneces 
sarily.  May  we  not  apply  that  principle  to  the 
debate  on  this  subject?  It  has  lasted  from  the 
first  Monday  of  December  until  the  present  hour. 
I  do  not  think  it  is  reasonable  to  require  us  to 
listen  to  the  discussion  night  and  day.  Sir,  if  we 
could  have  profound  silence  in  the  Senate  for  a 
moment,  I  believe  we  could  hear  all  around  us  the 
outpourings  of  profound  conviction,  earnest 
sighs,  deep  breathings.  (A  voice:  'Of  the  sleep 
ers.')  telling  us  with  a  strong  voice,  that  the  hour 
is  late,  and  that  we  are  not  all  qualified  to  sit  here 
forever,  though  we  may  sit  patiently  as  the  sen 
ator  from  Michigan  (Mr.  Cass)  certainly  does, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  is  the  oldest  man 
amongst  us;  but  he  cannot  last  forever.  I  trust 
we  shall  at  once  come  to  a  vote,  and  have  no  more 
speeches  on  this  subject,  unless  some  speech 
which  will  bring  this  crisis  to  a  determination, 
and  settle  the  question  of  the  very  existence  of 
the  Union.  What  is  the  use  of  continuing  the 
debate?  Who  has  an  idea  that  it  is  of  impor 
tance  to  pass  this  bill,  unless  it  be  adopted  by  the 
House  of  Representatives?  Some  southern  men 
are  said  to  be  opposed  to  it ;  and  I  doubt  exceed- 


34  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ingly  whether  the  bill  will  be  passed  by  the 
House,  though  it  may  be  adopted  by  the  Senate. 
Senators  will  pardon  me  for  having  called 
their  attention  to  the  fourth  rule.  Of  course  the 
senator  from  New  York  (Mr.  Seward),  who  I 
perceive  desires  to  obtain  the  floor,  will  not  un 
derstand  me  as  applying  to  him,  for  I  believe  he 
has  not  spoken  more  than  two  or  three  times 
to-day  and  to-night.  (Laughter.)  I  hope  that 
other  gentlemen  will  be  admonished  by  his  exam 
ple.  I  trust  in  view  of  the  high  exctement  which 
now  exists  here,  that  no  gentleman  will  lend  a 
hand  to  increase  it.  (Laughter.) 

Now  as  for  that  skill  in  the  sharp  encounters 
of  debate,  which  often  depended  on  humor  to 
blunt  the  poisoned  shaft  and  toss  it  harmless  at 
one's  feet,  John  P.  Hale  was  without  a  match. 
His  was  the  chasseur  style — quick  in  action ;  first 
troubling  the  enemy  at  this  point,  then  suddenly 
rallying  on  a  fresh  ground,  outwitting  him  at 
every  stand,  until  he  is  forced  to  retire.  With 
courage,  wit,  and  eloquence,  he  was  a  formidable 
opponent. 

During  the  discussion  of  a  bill  in  relation  to  a 
railroad  along  Pennsylvania  avenue  from  George 
town  to  the  Capitol  (in  January,  1859),  Mr.  Hale 
held  the  floor  one  afternoon  and  gave  the  Senate 
an  amusing  talk,  which,  if  it  did  not  accomplish 
much,  caused  them  some  diversion. 

Mr.  Hale:    Mr.  President. 

The  President  pro  tempore:  The  Senator 
from  Maine. 

Mr.  Hale :    The  chair  is  mistaken  about  where 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  35 

I  live.  I  live  very  near  to  the  line  of  Maine ;  it's 
only  about  four  miles  from  where  I  live  in  New 
Hampshire.  I  have  sat  here  this  afternoon  some 
what  impatiently.  I  am  opposed  to  working  on 
Saturday  afternoons.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  never 
used  to  go  to  school  on  Saturday  afternoon.  I 
always  vote  to  adjourn  over  Saturday,  and  I 
always  shall,  for  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  do 
the  public  business  better  in  that  mode.  I  have 
sat  here  all  this  afternoon  impatiently  under  these 
debates  on  this  little  two-mile  horse  railroad.  It 
has  looked  to  me  as  if  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  are  rather  coming  down  when  they  devote 
a  whole  day,  and  an  extraordinary  day  of  ses 
sion  to  it;  but  since  I  have  heard  the  Senator 
from  Michigan,  I  am  converted  entirely.  I  think 
the  day  has  been  well  spent,  and  it  would  be  well 
to  spend  a  little  more  time  on  this  subject,  and  for 
that  reason  I  have  got  up.  (Laughter.) 

The  suggestion  the  Senator  from  Michigan 
(Mr.  Stuart)  made  which  converted  me  is,  that 
it  is  a  question  which  towers  up  above  all  horse- 
railroads,  and  all  Pacific  railroads,  and  magnetic 
telegraphs,  and  everything  of  that  sort,  because 
in  his  imagination — and  he  has  given  it  to  us 
gravely,  deliberately,  and  emphatically — it  is  a 
question  whether  the  Senate  has  anything  to  do 
with  the  legislation  of  the  country  or  not.  Now, 
sir,  I  am  for  the  Senate ;  and  if  that  is  the  ques 
tion,  and  if  it  is  that  which  is  involved  in  this 
horse-railroad,  I  am  against  it.  (Laughter.) 

The  President  pro  temporo  rapped  with  his 
gavel. 
Mr.  Hale:    You  did  not  knock  at  me,  sir — did 


36  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

you?  (Laughter.)  I  confess  that  the  question 
presents  itself  to  me  in  an  aspect  entirely  differ 
ent.  It  presents  itself  to  my  mind  in  a  much 
more  terrific  aspect  than  any  view  in  which  I 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  looking  upon  it.  But, 
sir,  I  think  the  Senator  from  Michigan  is  mis 
taken.  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  privilege  and 
prerogatives  of  the  Senate  will  be  preserved 
whether  this  horse  railroad  be  incorporated  or 
not.  I  do  not  think  their  track  will  go  through 
the  Capitol  grounds,  or  in  any  other  way  inter 
fere  with  us :  and  even  if  this  railroad  bill  should 
be  passed  to-night,  we  shall  come  here  at  twelve 
o'clock  on  Monday,  and  commence  the  discharge 
of  our  functions  exactly  as  well  as  if  the  bill  had 
not  passed.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Stuart  (of  Michigan).  I  am  not  at  all 
surprised  at  the  argument  of  the  Senator  from 
New  Hampshire,  and  I  do  not  at  all  regret  it.  I 
am  not  surprised  that  he  should  have  assured  me 
and  the  Senate  that  he  had  been  here  to-day  and 
did  not  know  who  was  arguing  one  side  and  who 
the  other  on  this  question,  because  I  found  him 
asleep  over  there  in  his  chair  (laughter),  his 
head  lying  back,  of  course  he  knew  nothing. 

Mr.  Hale:   Mr.  President. 

The  President  pro  tempore:  Will  the  Senator 
from  Michigan  yield  to  the  Senator  from  New 
Hampshire  ? 

Mr.  Hale :  Never  mind ;  I  shall  get  it  in  a  mo 
ment. 

Mr.  Stuart:  It  did  not  amaze  me  for  a  mo 
ment  that  the  Senator  should  misrepresent  all  I 
said.  It  is  his  habit. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  37 

Mr.  Hale :   I  call  him  to  order,  sir. 

The  President  pro  tempore :  The  Senator  will 
take  ins  seat.  W  ill  the  Senator  from  New  Hamp 
shire  state  his  question  of  order  ? 

Mr.  Hale :  He  says  it  is  my  habit  to  misrepre 
sent  ;  and  that  is  an  impeachment  of  my  integrity 
on  the  floor,  which  he  has  no  right  to  make. 
That's  the  ground  for  calling  him  to  order. 

The  President  pro  tempore:  Will  the  Senate 
say  whether  the  Senator  from  Michigan  is  in 
order  or  not? 

Mr.  Davis :  I  think  the  point  of  order  is  clearly 
well  taken  by  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire. 
I  do  not  think  it  senatorial  for  one  Senator  to  say 
to  another  that  he  misrepresents  anything. 

Mr.  Hale:  He  said  I  not  only  did  it,  but  that 
it  was  my  habit. 

The  President  pro  tempore :  The  Senator  from 
Michigan  has  the  floor. 

Mr.  Stuart :  I  am  very  sorry  that  the  Senator 
from  New  Hampshire  should  have  so  changed  his 
feelings. 

Mr.  Hale :  I  call  for  the  rule  of  the  Senate  to 
be  enforced. 

Mr.  Pugh:  What  is  it? 

Mr.  Hale :  I  called  the  Senator  to  order.  The 
Chair  should  either  decide  it,  or  submit  it  to  the 
Senate. 

The  President  pro  tempore :  The  Chair  submit 
ted  to  the  Senate  whether  the  Senator  from 
Michigan  should  proceed  in  order.  The  Chair 
heard  no  objection,  and  took  it  for  granted  that 
it  was  the  sense  of  the  Senate  that  the  Senator 
from  Michigan  should  proceed  in  order. 


38  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Mr.  Hale :  I  did  not  so  understand. 

The  President  pro  tempore :  The  Senator  from 
Michigan  has  the  floor. 

Mr.  Stuart :  I  was  remarking  that  I  was  a  lit 
tle  surprised  that  the  Senator  from  New  Hamp 
shire  should  have  so  changed  his  own  feelings. 
He  waked  up  in  a  most  mirthful  sympathy  just 
now.  He  was  full  of  glee  and  made  a  very  vio 
lent  effort  to  see  if  he  could  not  make  a  little  fun 
out  of  the  remarks  I  made.  He  is  now  changed 
in  his  tone  entirely;  he  is  an  offended  Senator; 
he  has  waked  up  cross.  That  is  remarkable ;  be 
cause  when  a  gentleman  introduces  in  a  body  of 
this  sort  a  scene  of  drollery,  he  mars  the  whole 
play  when  he  undertakes  to  change  it  to  one  of 
anger ;  it  should  be  carried  out.  Now  everybody 
knows  the  attention  that  is  paid  by  the  Senator 
from  New  Hampshire  to  all  business;  that  he  is 
always  in  his  seat,  always  knows  what  is  going 
on,  never  speaks  but  to  enlighten  the  Senate, 
never  leaves  the  Senate  unnecessarily  to  go  into 
his  State  or  elsewhere.  Indeed,  sir,  he  is  one  of 
those  lights  of  the  body  that  the  Senate  can 
scarcely  get  along  without;  and  therefore  I  felt 
that  when  the  Senator  stated  I  had  said  the  only 
question  presented  here  to-day  was  a  question  in 
volving  the  rights  of  the  Senate,  the  Senate 
was  bound  to  believe  that,  notwithstanding  my 
argument  was  entirely  the  reverse.  I  said  I  had 
heard  that  argument  that  the  Senate  must  not 
amend  a  bill  because  it  would  be  lost  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  I  did  not  say  that  the  ques 
tion  presented  to  the  Senate  was  one  whether  it 
would  maintain  its  own  powers  of  legislation  or 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  39 

not.  I  said  no  such  thing.  I  said  that  the  argu 
ment  carried  out  must  mean  that  and  nothing 
more.  I  said  it  emphatically,  the  Senator  says. 
I  hope  I  said  it  respectfully  to  every  Senator ;  and 
to  the  body;  and  if  in  arguing  questions  here,  I 
shall  deem  it  proper  to  speak  directly  to  the  point 
in  a  logical  way,  and  for  purposes  of  useful 
legislation,  instead  of  thrusting  myself  in  the 
arena  like  a  clown  at  a  circus,  I  must  be  excused 
for  preferring  that  plain  mode  to  the  other. 

Mr.  Clay:  I  move  that  the  Senate  adjourn. 
("Oh,  no!")  It  is  a  quarter  to  five  o'clock,  and 
I  think  this  farce  is  likely  to  be  turned  into  a 
tragedy,  and  I  hope  the  Senate  will  adjourn.  The 
motion  was  not  agreed  to,  there  being  on  a  divi 
sion — ayes  14,  noes  21. 

Mr.  Hale :  Mr.  President,  all  personal  matters 
are  disagreeable  to  me.  I  want  to  state  now — I 
do  not  go  into  anybody's  motives — but  the  Sena 
tor  from  Michigan  misstates  entirely  and  totally 
the  remark  which  I  made,  upon  which  he  based 
what  I  suppose  he  calls  wit,  and  I  am  willing  to 
let  it  go  on;  and  that  was  that  I  did  not  know 
upon  which  side  gentlemen  had  been  arguing 
here. 

Mr.  Davis :  I  think  the  Senator  is  committing 
the  very  breach  of  decorum  for  which  he  called 
the  Senator  from  Michigan  to  order. 

Mr.  Hale :   I  did  not  say  he  misrepresented. 

Mr.  Davis :  You  said  misstated,  which  is  some 
what  more  harsh.  I  hope  the  Chair  will  enforce 
the  rules  of  order. 

The  President  pro  tempore :  The  Chair  will  de 
clare  the  Senator  out  of  order,  and  the  Senate 


40  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

will  determine  whether  he  shall  proceed  in  order. 
Those  in  favor  of  the  Senator  proceeding — 

Mr.  Crittenden :  I  wish  to  say  a  word  on  that 
subject.  I  certainly  desire  the  order  of  debate 
to  be  preserved  as  much  as  anybody,  but  although 
I  acknowledge  the  term  "misstate"  sounds 
harshly,  it  does  not  imply  that  it  is  done  inten 
tionally. 

Mr.  Hale :   Certainly  not. 

Mr.  Crittenden:  I  may  misstate  a  case  which 
I  do  not  understand.  I  examined  a  little  once 
as  to  this  very  question.  When  you  say  a  gentle 
man  has  misstated,  you  mean  only  that  he  has 
stated  erroneously,  but  not  misrepresented  or 
misstated  intentionally.  I  consider  it  not  out  of 
order  at  all,  but  within  the  strictest  rules  of  order. 

The  Presiding  Officer :  Those  in  favor  of  the 
Senator  proceeding  in  order  will  say  "Ay."  The 
question  was  decided  in  the  affirmative. 

Mr.  Hale:  I  did  not  mean  to  be  out  of  order, 
and  I  carefully  weighed  the  word  so  as  not  to  be 
out  of  order.  I  recollect  reading  a  work  of  Dean 
Swift,  in  one  of  his  travels  in  one  of  the  nations 
that  he  went  into,  and  he  said  they  were  so  truth 
ful  that  they  had  no  word  to  represent  falsehood ; 
and  when  they  wanted  to  say  it  they  would  simply 
say  a  man  said  the  thing  which  was  not ;  and  that 
they  said  to  get  around  the  word  "falsehood," 
which  was  not  in  their  language.  Using  the 
phraseology  of  that  learned  English  writer,  I  will 
simply  say  that  the  Senator  from  Michigan  has 
said  the  thing  which  was  not.  He  stated  that  I 
had  said  I  did  not  know  which  side  gentlemen 
had  been  arguing  upon  in  the  Senate.  I  said  no 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  41 

such  thing;  thought  no  such  thing;  intended  no 
such  thing.  I  said  that  outsiders,  friends  of  these 
different  companies,  had  been  at  me — the  one  and 
the  other ;  and  I  took  so  little  interest  in  it  that  I 
did  not  know  which  was  for  one  and  which  was 
for  the  other.  I  spoke  of  what  occurred  outside 
of  the  Senate,  and  not  of  what  took  place  in  it; 
and,  therefore,  I  will  admit  that,  if  the  basis  had 
been  true,  the  Senator  from  Michigan  would 
have  made  a  very  witty  speech,  and  that  his 
censure  would  have  been  well  applied.  Now,  sir, 
I  shall  not  undertake  to  reply  to  any  insinuations 
and  innuendoes  of  the  Senator  from  Michigan. 
I  will  let  them  all  go.  I  plead  guilty  to  the  charge 
of  not  mingling  in  every  subject  that  comes  up 
from  the  incorporation  of  a  railroad,  or  a  pen 
sion,  to  every  great  scheme  that  is  brought  before 
the  country;  and  if  there  is  to  be  any  impeach 
ment  of  my  intelligence,  or  any  want  of  attention 
to  the  affairs  which  belong  to  the  Senate,  from 
the  fact  that  my  voice  is  not  heard  on  everything, 
in  season  and  out  of  season,  early  and  late,  logi 
cally,  or  illogically.  I  plead  guilty,  and  leave  to 
the  Senator  from  Michigan,  or  anybody  else  that 
is  desirous  of  it,  any  laurels  that  may  be  won  in 
such  a  contest.  I  have  none  of  them;  but  if  the 
Senator  thinks  I  have  been  asleep,  I  have  this  to 
say ;  I  know  some  clergymen  sometimes  find  fault 
with  their  parishioners  and  audience  for  going  to 
sleep,  but  I  think  when  a  clergyman  has  a  sleepy 
audience  he  has  no  right  to  complain.  If  the 
speaker  has  not  vitality  and  energy  enough  to 
keep  his  hearers  awake,  I  think  they  do  wisely  in 
going  to  sleep.  (Laughter.)  I  have  always 


4?  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

thought  so,  and  I  do  not  mean  that  as  any  re 
proach  to  anybody  who  speaks  in  the  Senate ;  but 
if  there  is  anybody  in  the  Senate  that  has  made 
his  voice  heard  in  season  and  out  of  season,  and 
has  failed  to  keep  his  audience  awake,  I  think 
he  had  better  examine  his  own  powers  a  little, 
instead  of  finding  fault  with  the  audience. 
(Laughter.) 

Mr.  Stewart:  I  concur  with  the  Senator  en 
tirely  and  that  gives  me  an  opportunity  of  con 
gratulating  myself  particularly  for  being  able  to 
wake  him  up.  Until  I  spoke,  sir,  he  was  asleep, 
sound  and  snoring.  (Laughter.)  I  presume  if 
I  had  not  spoken,  he  would  have  slept  until  this 
time,  for  I  believe  I  am  the  only  man  in  the  Sen 
ate  that  he  takes  especial  pains  to  interfere  with, 
and  hereafter  it  will  be  known  when  it  is  neces 
sary  to  wake  up  the  great  light  of  the  East,  I  will 
speak  and  he  will  awake,  and  the  country  will  be 
enlightened ;  they  can  be  amused,  the  whole  scene 
in  the  Senate  can  be  changed;  if  argument  will 
not  answer,  buffoonery  will  be  resorted  to. 


"Sam"  Houston  was  one  of  the  gentlest  and 
most  kindly  natures  I  have  ever  known.  A  true 
friend  and  a  gallant  gentleman.  Day  after  day, 
during  spare  moments,  he  sat  there  in  his  seat 
carving  hearts  out  of  soft  pine  wood.  They  were 
pieces  about  the  size  of  the  hand.  When  he  had 
completed  one  of  these  works  of  art,  he  would 
summon  a  page,  and  pointing  toward  some  fair 
spectator  in  the  gallery,  would  say:  "Give  this 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  43 

to  that  lady  up  there,  with  General  "Sam"  Hous 
ton's  compliments.  Needless  it  is  to  add  that 
these  souvenirs  were  quickly  accepted  and  highly 
prized.  The  blocks  from  which  they  were  whit 
tled,  were  especially  prepared  for  the  general  by 
the  Senate  cabinetmaker  (Mr.  Griffith). 

At  church  (the  E  Street  Baptist,  Washington), 
the  aisles  would  be  choked  with  people  at  the 
close  of  service,  waiting  for  a  chance  to  get  near 
the  big  Texan,  who  always  occupied  a  pew  near 
the  pulpit.  And  there  he  would  stand,  his  com 
manding  figure  wrapped  in  a  Mexican  blanket,  in 
cold  weather,  meeting  the  people  as  they  came 
forward,  speaking  kind  and  sensible  words  to 
each  one,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest. 

His  history  is  so  universally  known,  as  the 
leader  of  a  force  of  invincible  men,  as  a  general, 
as  the  President  of  Texas,  as  governor,  we  hardly 
consider  it  necessary  to  dwell  upon  any  period  of 
his  life,  either  before  or  after  he  was  in  the  Sen 
ate. 

He  was  a  great  fun-maker.  Once  (in  April, 
1856),  he  related  the  following  story  in  illustra 
tion  of  a  point  in  debate : 

"It  reminds  me,  Mr.  President,  of  a  trial  which 
took  place  not  very  far  from  here,  before  a 
magistrate  endowed  with  a  good  portion  of  com 
mon  sense  and  considerable  integrity,  but  not  a 
highly  educated  man — not  a  metaphysician.  When 
the  parties  appeared  before  him,  after  hearing  the 
testimony  on  the  side  of  the  plaintiff,  seeing  a 
good  deal  of  excitement  around  him,  he  ordered 
the  court  to  adjourn,  and  went  out  hastily  with 
some  bustle.  'Oh!'  said  the  people,  'stop,  stop, 


44  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Squire,  you  are  not  going?  'Yes/  said  he,  'I 
have  heard  enough.'  'But/  they  said,  'you  have 
heard  only  one-half  the  case/  'Yes/  replied  he; 
'but  to  hear  both  sides  of  a  case  always  confuses 
me,  and  I  cannot  give  my  decision.  I  am  off !'  >! 
(Laughter.) 

Apropos  of  the  additions  making  to  the  Cap 
itol,  in  the  year  1858,  he  addressed  the  Senate, 
with  some  poignancy  not  altogether  void  of  hu 
mor,  touching  upon  the  statuary  designed  for  the 
ornamentation  of  the  new  structure. 

Mr.  President:  I  am  not  acquainted  with  the 
details  of  extending  the  wings  of  the  Capitol ;  but 
there  is  one  circumstance  to  which  my  attention 
has  been  drawn,  and  on  which  I  should  like  to 
obtain  information ;  and  that  is,  who  are  the 
sculptors  that  are  employed  in  the  shanties  out 
here,  in  preparing  the  different  statues  for  their 
appropriate  places  in  the  new  Capitol?  I  have 
observed  some  of  them ;  and  the  Goddess  of  Lib 
erty,  I  believe,  is  one.  I  am  an  admirer  of  stau- 
ary,  but  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  a  critic,  or  even 
an  amateur  in  that  department  of  art.  It  does 
seem  to  me  that  it  is  a  figure  which  makes  rather 
a  queer  display  in  the  Capitol.  In  the  first  place, 
I  object  to  its  attitude,  it  appears  to  me  to  be  in 
anguish — drawn  back  in  the  most  ungraceful  and 
ungainly  attitude  for  a  lady.  (Laughter.)  It 
appears  to  be  in  torment;  and  had  it  been  physi 
cal,  I  should  have  imagined  that  it  really  had  a 
boil  under  the  arm.  (Laughter.)  Take  it  all  in 
all — take  the  tout  ensemble — I  have  seen  nothing 
resembling  it.  Instead  of  the  bare  feet  with  san 
dals,  it  is  represented  with  a  very  formidable  pair 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  45 

of  russet  brogans,  that  would  suit  very  well  for 
laborers  in  the  swamps  of  the  South.  That  is 
one  of  the  most  queer  and  ridiculous  things  I 
have  ever  seen  to  represent  human  nature.  I 
have  never  seen  a  wax  figure  but  what  was 
equally  graceful  and  rather  more  beautiful  and 
artistic  in  its  appearance. 

Then  there  is  an  Indian  woman,  or  squaw,  to  be 
more  technical,  seated  on  a  slab  of  marble.  That 
may  be  very  well  executed,  but  she  has  a  little 
papoose  in  her  arms  and  its  little  head  is  sticking 
out  like  a  terrapin's  (laughter)  without  reclining 
gracefully  on  the  arm.  She  has  a  blanket,  or 
something,  holding  it  up ;  and  its  little  neck,  with 
out  the  least  curve  or  grace,  is  very  stiff  like  an 
apple  on  a  stick.  (Laughter.)  Now,  sir,  I  think 
of  it,  that  throughout  all  ages,  as  long  as  this 
Capitol  shall  stand,  or  this  Union  exist,  which  I 
hope  is  to  be  forever,  that  poor  little  Indian  has 
to  sustain  a  heavy  head  with  that  little  neck,  and 
without  a  mother's  aid  to  hold  it  reclining  on  her 
arms.  (Laughter.)  Any  person  who  will  look  at 
that  must  be  agonized.  Sir,  the  scenes  around  us 
in  this  building  ought  to  inspire  cheerfulness  and 
pleasure.  Instead  of  that,  a  contemplation  of  this 
figure  will  inflict  agony  on  every  human  being  of 
sensibility. 

And  then  there  is  a  poor  Indian  boy,  who  looks 
as  if  he  were  of  Oriental  stock.  He  has  a  large 
shell  on  his  shoulders ;  end  in  his  agonizing  atti 
tude,  water  is  to  spout  continually  on  him.  He  is 
in  the  most  servile,  miserable,  cruel  agonizing 
attitude  in  which  I  ever  saw  a  creature.  It  will 
inspire  us  with  feelings  of  anguish  if  we  should 


46  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ever  see  these  figures  displayed  about  the  Capitol. 
I  would  like  to  have  the  gentleman  of  the  Senate 
go  and  see  them,  before  they  are  placed  in  a  situ 
ation  where  they  will  have  to  be  removed:  be 
cause  it  will  cost  something  to  place  them  there. 
I  insist  that,  at  least,  there  ought  to  be  an  amend 
ment  for  the  purpose  of  providing  curtains  to 
hang  in  front  of  them,  so  that  they  may  never  be 
seen.  I  am  a  man  of  sympathy;  I  feel  for  hu 
man  suffering,  and  could  not  contemplate  one  of 
these  three  figures  without  the  extremest  agony. 

They  are  in  torment;  you  would  suppose  they 
were  representations  of  some  criminal  that  had 
committed  an  unpardonable  offense,  for  which  he 
was  doomed  to  perpetual  agony.  I  object  to 
their  going  into  this  Capitol,  or  being  about  it.  I 
do  not  know  the  artist;  I  cannot  exactly  say 
whether  he  is  a  native — no,  sir,  I  know  he  is  not 
a  native;  for  a  native  artist,  observing  nature  as 
it  is  in  our  forests  and  in  our  wilds — for  we  all 
more  or  less  pass  through  forests  and  see  nature 
— animal,  vegetable,  mineral,  all  around  us — • 
could  not  have  fancied  such  sketches  as  these  are, 
I  object  to  them  unequivocally;  I  can  never  sub 
mit  to  them. 

General  Houston,  like  all  men  with  a  keen  sense 
of  humor,  was  sympathetic  and  kind.  The  In 
dians,  among  whom  he  had  lived  a  great  deal, 
claimed  his  protection.  He  had  witnessed  the 
degradation  of  brave  chieftains,  due  to  the 
agency  of  hideous  vice,  introduced  into  the  camps 
by  white  men.  He  made  a  speech  in  Jan.  1855, 
on  the  Indian. 

"They  are  a  people  isolated  in  their  interests, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  47 

and  solely  dependent  for  protection  and  justice 
upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  The 
Indians  have  been  charged  with  an  aggressive 
and  hostile  spirit  toward  the  whites,  but  we  find, 
upon  inquiry,  that  every  instance  of  that  sort 
which  has  been  imputed  to  them  has  been  in 
duced  and  provoked  by  the  white  man,  either  by 
acts  of  direct  aggression  upon  the  Indians,  or  by 
his  own  incaution,  alluring  them  to  a  violation  of 
the  security  of  the  whites."  After  citation  of 
numerous  instances,  in  which  he  alludes  to  early 
days,  Houston  said :  "The  course  which  has  been 
pursued,  since  the  days  of  William  Penn  to  the 
present  moment,  has  not  been  entirely  successful 
in  conciliating  the  Indians.  But  under  the  man 
agement  of  Washington,  of  the  first  Adams,  of 
Madison,  of  Monroe,  of  the  second  Adams,  of 
Jackson,  and  of  Polk,  we  have,  with  few  excep 
tions,  been  very  successful  in  maintaining  peace 
with  them.  The  suggestions  made  by  our  fath 
ers  in  relation  to  their  civilization  and  humaniza- 
tion  are  exemplified  and  illustrated  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  southern  tribes,  who  have  re 
ceived  the  greatest  benefits  of  the  light  shed  on 
them ;  and  they  have  responded  to  it  by  the  culti 
vation  of  mind,  by  the  development  of  resources, 
both  physical  and  intellectual,  which  reflect  luster 
on  their  character. 

When  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States, 
these  Indians  on  account  of  faith  having  been 
maintained  with  them  by  the  then  Executive  of 
Texas,  refused  to  meet  and  confer  with  the  com 
mission  sent  to  them  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  until  they  had  the  sanction  of  the 


48  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Government  of  Texas ;  and  the  symbols  of  confi 
dence  were  put  in  the  hands  of  the  commission 
ers  before  the  Indians  would  treat  with  them. 
Take  an  illustration.  One  of  their  chiefs,  with 
his  wife  and  child,  and  twelve  men  came  to  Fort 
Belknap,  some  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hun 
dred  miles  west  of  the  fort  at  Hamilton's  Val 
ley.  Property  had  been  stolen  by  Indians.  It 
was  not  known  which  of  thirteen  different  tribes 
had  taken  it,  for  outlaws  occasionally  congre 
gated  from  each,  half  a  dozen  of  them  stealing 
off  from  their  tribes  without  the  influence  of  their 
chiefs  operating  upon  them.  They  were  outlaws, 
careless  of  the  destiny  of  their  tribes,  and  reck 
less  of  the  crimes  they  might  commit,  so  long  as 
they  could  gratify  their  cupidity,  and  recompense 
their  daring.  These  men  had  taken  some  prop 
erty.  Dragoons  came  on  in  the  direction  of  the 
Red  River,  and  reached  Fort  Belknap.  So  soon 
as  they  arrived,  the  officer  said  to  the  chief :  'Sir, 
I  retain  you  as  a  prisoner.  It  is  true  you  came 
here  under  a  white  flag;  but  I  am  an  officer.  I 
have  the  power;  I  take  you  prisoner,  and  you 
must  stay  here  a  prisoner  until  the  horses  are 
brought  back.  Your  men  must  stay,  too,  except 
one,  whom  I  will  send  to  your  tribe  with  the  in 
telligence  of  the  fact.'  The  chief  said :  'My  tribe 
have  not  committed  the  robbery ;  it  is  a  great  dis 
tance  from  me ;  it  is  in  another  direction.  I  come 
from  the  rising  sun ;  that  is  toward  the  setting 
sun ;  I  was  far  from  it ;  you  are  between  me  and 
it ;  I  did  not  do  it.'  'But,'  said  the  officer,  'you  are 
a  prisoner.'  The  officer  put  him  in  the  guard 
Jiouse,  Imprisonment  is  eternal  infamy  to  an  In- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  49 

dian.  A  prairie  Indian  would  rather  die  a  thou 
sand  deaths  than  submit  to  the  disgrace  of  im 
prisonment.  You  may  wound  and  mutilate  him 
as  you  please,  you  may  crush  every  limb  in  the 
body  of  a  prairie  Indian,  and  if  he  can  make  no 
other  resistance  he  will  spit  defiance  at  you  when 
you  come  within  his  reach.  This  chief  meditat 
ing  upon  his  deep  disgrace,  knowing  that  he  was 
irreparably  dishonored,  unless  he  could  wash  out 
his  stains  with  blood,  resolved  that  night  that  he 
would  either  die  a  free  man  or  rescue  himself 
from  dishonor.  He  rose  in  the  night.  He  would 
not  leave  his  wife  and  child  in  the  hands  of  his 
enemy;  so  he  took  his  knife,  and  stabbed  his 
squaw  and  little  one  to  the  heart.  Not  a  groan 
was  heard,  for  he  well  knew  where  to  apply  the 
poignard.  He  went  and  shot  down  the  sentinel, 
rushed  upon  the  superior  officers,  was  shot,  and 
perished  like  a  warrior,  in  an  attempt  to  wipe  a 
stain  from  his  honor.  His  men  fled,  and  re 
turned  to  their  tribe,  but  it  was  to  bring  blood, 
carnage,  and  conflagration  upon  our  settlements. 
They  came  not  again  as  brothers  to  smoke  the 
calumet  of  peace,  but  with  brands  in  their  hands 
to  set  fire  to  our  houses.  Contrast  that  with  previ 
ous  years;  contrast  it  with  the  harmony  which 
had  before  existed,  and  you  see  the  lamentable 
results  of  sending,  as  Indian  agents,  army 
officers,  to  take  charge  of  Indians,  men  who  know 
nothing  about  the  Indian  character.  Sir,  while 
people  are  seeking  to  civilize  and  Christianize 
men  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  or  the  Jordan, 
or  in  Burrampootah,  why  should  not  the  same 
philanthropic  influence  be  extended  through  soci- 


Jo  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ety,  and  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  the  American  In 
dians?  Is  not  the  soul  of  an  American  Indian, 
in  the  prairie,  worth  as  much  as  the  soul  of  a  man 
on  the  Ganges,  or  in  Jerusalem  ?  Surely  it  is." 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  51 


VII. 

BUILDINGS   ON   THE    MALL. 

Within  recent  years,  encroachment  upon  the 
Mall  has  been  attended  with  so  little  opposition, 
a  few  remarks  by  the  chairman  of  the  District 
Committee  (A.  G.  Brown,  of  Miss.)  on  the  mo 
tion  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  the  location 
of  the  District  armory  was  changed  from  the 
Mall  to  Judiciary  Square,  may  be  of  interest. 

Mr.  Brown :  I  do  not  mean  to  worry  the  Sen 
ate  with  this  question,  though  I  really  think  it  is 
of  consequence.  The  site  on  which  it  is  proposed 
to  erect  this  building,  as  I  remarked  before,  con 
tains  seventeen  acres  of  ground,  lying  directly  be 
tween  the  Capitol  and  the  Potomac  river.  This  it  is 
proposed  to  spoil,  as  I  think,  with  this  building 
and  to  give  it  up  as  a  mere  parade  ground.  The 
interests  involved,  in  my  opinion,  greatly  exceed 
the  simple  question  of  the  $30,000  which  happens 
to  have  been  appropriated.  If  gentlemen  will 
take  the  trouble  to  look  into  the  past  history  of 
our  legislation,  they  will  find  that  when  you 
erected  your  Treasury  Department  which  is  a  na 
tional  building — it  was  put  on  the  President's 
Square.  Why  was  it  not  placed  on  the  Mall? 
Because  at  that  day  the  President  and  those  who 
had  the  location  of  that  building  believed  it  to  be 


$2  MEMOIRS  Of  A  SENATE  PAGE 

'  x 

right  to  preserve  the  Mall  from  encroachment. 
At  a  later  day,  when  you  built  the  Patent  Office 
why  was  not  that  put  upon  the  Mall  ?  It  was  not 
done  because  the  gentleman  who  had  control  of 
public  affairs  then  thought  that  this  reservation 
ought  to  be  preserved.  When  you  built  your 
Post  Office  Department,  why  did  you  buy  the 
ground  on  which  it  was  erected,  instead  of  taking 
the  Mall  which  you  owned? 

My  friend  from  California  asks  me — I  hardly 
like  to  stop  to  answer  such  a  question — why  do 
we  wish  to  preserve  it?  Sir,  why  does  Philadel 
phia  pay  large  sums  of  money  for  public  parks? 
Why  has  New  York  within  the  last  twelve 
mouths  paid  $6,000,000  for  a  public  park!  Why 
is  Boston  Common  to-day  considered  the  beauty 
and  glory  of  that  ancient  city?  Because  these 
reservations,  in  the  course  of  time,  as  cities  grow 
large  and  old,  become  the  very  lungs  through 
which  your  population  breathe.  That  is  the  rea 
son  why  we  wish  to  preserve  this  reservation. 
When  you  located  your  Military  Asylum  why 
did  you  not  put  it  on  the  Mall?  You  selected  a 
site  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  city  and  paid 
$50,000  for  the  ground  on  which  to  locate  it. 
Two  years  ago,  when  you  were  about  to  locate 
the  Lunatic  Asylum,  why  was  not  that  put  there  ? 
Then  you  paid  a  large  sum  of  money  for  ground 
upon  which  to  locate  that  building.  Now,  sir, 
when  you  are  about  to  erect  buildings  for  the 
War,  State,  and  Navy  Departments  national 
buildings— why  do  you  not  pxit  them  there?  It 
seems  nothing  is  to  go  there  but  this  poor,  little 
miserable  armory ;  and  it  is  to  be  placed  there  be- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  53 

cause  certain  men  desire  to  use  the  Mall  as  a 
parade  ground  for  their  holiday  soldiers — 
ground  which  has  been  held  sacred — which  was 
first  laid  off  by  the  Father  of  his  Country,  as  I  am 
prepared  to  show.  I  have  the  plan  of  the  city 
signed  by  George  Washington  himself,  with  his 
own  sign  manual,  laying  oft"  and  preserving  this 
ground  for  the  public  use.  For  fifty  years  it  has 
been  preserved  intact,  with  two  exceptions.  You 
placed  the  Smithsonian  Institution  there,  and  I 
think  it  very  much  out  of  place.  If  I  had  been 
here  at  the  time  I  should  have  opposed  its  being 
located  there. 

You  also  provided  for  placing  the  Washington 
monument  there,  and  you  could  not  have  put  in 
a  more  proper  place;  but  no  building  ought  to 
have  gone  there.  What  will  be  the  next  plan  sug 
gested?  Somebody  will  propose  to  put  the  mar 
ket  house  there;  and  by  and  by  somebody  will 
wish  to  have  the  jail  removed  there.  Then  some 
one  will  wish  the  school  houses  to  be  put  there, 
because  it  will  make  a  pretty  playground  for  the 
children ;  then  you  will  have  a  blind  asylum  there, 
because  the  children  will  be  able  to  get  fresh  air. 
Better  reasons  can  be  given  for  putting  any  of 
these  buildings  there  than  for  desecrating  this 
reservation  by  giving  it  up  for  a  parade  ground." 

Mr.  Hale's  remarks : 

"It  is  rarely  that  I  have  heard  a  speech  with 
which  I  coincided  bO  entirely  and  totally  as  the 
speech  which  fell  to-day  from  the  honorable  Sen 
ator  from  Mississippi  (Mr.  Brown).  Now,  I  hope 
when  we  have  such  sage  counsels  from  the  chair 
man  of  the  committee  who  has  the  District  of 


54  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Columbia  under  his  charge,  we  shall  follow  him 
and  take  his  advice.  When  this  Capitol  shall  be 
completed,  we  shall  be  under  the  necessity  of 
buying  at  a  very  large  expense  portions  of  land 
which  we  once  gave  away,  and  which  ought  to  be 
a  part,  and  must  be  a  part,  of  the  grounds  at 
tached  to  the  Capitol.  When  these  wings  are 
completed,  you  will  have  to  buy  at  an  enormous 
expense,  land  which  we  gave  away  for  a  mere 
song,  or  less  than  a  song.  Now,  when  we  have 
seen  what  has  been  the  result  of  our  dealing  with 
the  public  grounds  here,  I  trust  Congress  will 
stay  its  hand,  and  not  build  an  armory  on  this 
ground,  which  was  intended  to  be  public  reserva 
tion  forever.  If  an  armory  is  wanted,  let  it  be 
put  somewhere  else  than  on  that  spot,  which  was 
intended  for  a  public  garden  and  for  a  public 
place  of  resort.  That  was  intended  to  be  a  place 
for  the  display  of  the  beauties  and  riches  of  na 
ture,  and  not  for  the  exhibitions  of  war.  I  wish 
to  see  no  plumes  waving  there  but  those  of  Na 
ture  and  her  flowers.  I  trust  what  was  intended 
to  be  an  ornamental,  public  reservation,  will  not 
be  disfigured  by  anything  of  this  sort.  I  have  not 
a  word  to  say  against  the  militia  of  the  District. 
I  hope  they  will  have  all  the  accommodation 
which  they  need ;  but  I  ask  senators  if  they  are 
willing  to  see  these  public  parks  and  grounds, 
which  we  have  been  preserving  and  ornamenting 
at  great  expense,  made  a  place  for  rendezvous  of 
militia  trainings?  I  trust  not;  but  such  will  be 
the  result  if  you  do  not  prohibit  the  erection  of 
buildings  on  this  site.  Compared  with  the  use 
for  which  these  grounds  were  intended,  the  ques- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  55 

tion  of  what  little  damages  we  shall  have  to  pay 
the  contractors,  does  not  deserve  to  be  taken  into 
consideration.  I  would  rather  pay  them  the  whole 
$30,000  than  have  them  erect  their  structure  on 
the  ground  from  which  this  resolution  proposes 
to  remove  it.  I  do  not  wish  it  to  be  there,  and  I 
would  rather  it  were  anywhere  else  than  there. 
For  this  reason  I  shall  vote  against  the  reconsid 
eration.  Judiciary  Square  is  already  occupied. 
The  City  Hall  is  there,  and  the  Infirmary  or  Hos 
pital  is  there.  The  chairman  of  the  committee 
says  it  is  a  convenient  place  on  which  to  put  this 
structure ;  and  everybody  who  has  been  in  the  city 
for  any  length  of  time  knows  that  the  City  Hall, 
which  stands  on  Judiciary  Square,  is  the  general 
place  for  the  rendezvous  of  the  military  com 
panies  of  the  District. 

Whenever  I  have  heard  the  drums  beating, 
calling  the  companies  together,  I  think  I  have 
generally  seen  the  gallant  colonel  of  the  volunteer 
militia  of  the  District  parading  with  his  forces 
before  the  City  Hall.  They  go  there  now  when 
there  is  no  armory,  and  they  probably  will  go 
there  when  there  is  an  armory." 


56  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


VIII. 

ROMANTIC  CHARACTER  OF  THE  GREAT  WEST 
INDIAN. 

He  was  peerless  as  an  orator.  To  listen  to  him 
was  like  listening  to  music;  he  spoke  with  such 
ease,  with  such  eloquence,  and  entirely  without 
notes,  save  at  times  he  might  have  a  book  or  a 
single  sheet  from  which  he  desired  to  quote.  He 
engaged  in  all  the  important  debates;  and  was  a 
master  in  every  maneuver  of  parliamentary  art. 
He  was  senator  from  Louisiana — Judah  P.  Ben 
jamin  by  name.  Not  only  a  great  speaker,  but  a 
constitutional  lawyer  of  mark;  one  of  the  best 
English  scholars  of  his  day,  and  a  man  of  wide 
and  tender  sympathies.  But  aside  from  all  this, 
his  character  was  romantic  to  an  exceptional  de 
gree.  Romantic  in  the  sense  that  it  guided  his 
life  through  so  many  strange  and  wonderful 
paths,  and  toward  such  high  and  noble  objects. 

His  parents  were  English  Jews,  who  sailed 
from  their  native  land  with  New  Orleans  as  their 
destination.  It  was  the  year  1811  and  the  port  of 
New  Orleans  was  blockaded  by  the  English  fleet. 
So  the  passengers  were  landed  in  St.  Croix,  in 
the  West  Indies.  Here,  on  this  island  fanned  by 
tropical  breezes,  Judah  was  born.  After  some 
time  the  family  came  to  the  States,  and  at  the 


P, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  57 

age  of  14,  Judah  entered  Yale.  He  remained 
there  three  years,  when  he  decided  to  go  with  his 
parents  to  New  Orleans.  In  that  city  at  the  age 
of  21,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  then  en 
gaged  in  practice  for  some  years,  but  without 
signal  success.  At  length  producing  the  "Digest 
of  Reported  Decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  Territory  of  New  Orleans,"  he  began  to 
mount  the  ladder  of  fame.  He  was  soon  after 
ward  admitted  to  practice  before  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  where  he  conducted  his 
cases  with  such  ability  as  to  draw  forth  this  tes 
timonial  from  Chief  Justice  Taney:  "Senator 
Judah  P.  Benjamin  of  Louisiana  was  first  before 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  second  before  no  other 
court  in  the  country." 

In  a  debate  in  the  Senate,  in  June,  1858,  he  ex 
changed  some  hot  words  with  Jefferson  Davis, 
the  affair  almost  leading  to  a  duel.  Mr.  Benja 
min  had  questioned  the  interpretation  of  a  cer 
tain  portion  of  a  House  bill  of  appropriation, 
which  Mr.  Davis  answered  with  a  sneer. 

Mr.  Benjamin :  It's  very  easy  for  the  Senator 
from  Mississippi  to  give  a  sneering  reply  to  what 
was  certainly  a  very  respectful  inquiry. 

Mr.  Davis:  I  considered  it  as  an  attempt  to 
misrepresent  a  very  plain  remark. 

Mr.  Benjamin:  The  Senator  is  mistaken,  and 
has  no  right  to  state  any  such  thing.  His  man 
ner  is  not  agreeable  at  all. 

Mr.  Davis:  If  the  Senator  happens  to  find  it 
disagreeable  I  hope  he  will  keep  it  to  himself. 

Mr.  Benjamin:  When  directed  to  me  I  will  not 
keep  it  to  myself.  I  will  repel  it  instanter. 


58  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Mr.  Davis :  You  have  got  it,  sir. 

Mr.  Benjamin:  That  is  enough,  sir. 

The  day  after  this  Mr.  Davis  apologized  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Davis :  "When  I  used  the  expression  which 
was  taken  to  have  been  in  a  sneering  tone,  as  to 
the  $100,000  appropriation,  it  is  due  to  myself 
and  to  others  that  I  should  say  that  there  was 
nothing  offensive  intended,  and  I  think  it  due  to 
myself  that  I  should  say  that  I  am  incapable  of 
committing  a  wanton  aggression  on  the  feelings 
of  any  man.  I  always  feel  pained,  nay,  more,  I 
feel  humiliated,  when  I  am  involved  in  any  per 
sonal  controversy  with  anybody.  It  is  my  wish 
with  every  Senator  to  hold  friendly  and  cordial 
relations.  There  is  an  infirmity  which  sometimes 
may  involve  me,  when  my  attention  is  directed 
simply  to  the  transaction  of  a  public  affair,  into 
controversies  which  partake  more  or  less  of  a 
personal  character.  I  regret  it  whenever  it  oc 
curs.  Toward  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  I  had 
no  other  feelings  than  those  of  kindness  and  re 
spect;  it  was  not  until  I  thought  he  exhibited 
anger  toward  myself  that  I  felt  it.  Then  it  is 
true,  I  intended  to  be  offensive.  Anger  is  con 
tagious;  the  manifestation  of  it  by  one  is  very 
apt  to  engender  it  in  another.  The  whole  transac 
tion  has  been  clearly  presented  by  the  Senator 
from  Maryland,  and  I  think  it  is  due  to  the  Sen 
ate  that  I  should  say  to  them  that  neither  on  that 
nor  upon  any  other  occasion  have  I  ever  intended 
at  any  time  to  bring  into  the  discussion  of  the 
Senate  a  feeling,  if  I  had,  which  might  be  mani 
fested  outside  of  the  chamber;  and  in  response 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  59 

to  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Maryland,  I 
have  only  to  say,  that  if  my  manner  is  unfortu 
nate,  and  it  is  sometimes,  as  my  best  friends  have 
told  me,  of  a  character  which  would  naturally 
impress  others  with  the  belief  that  I  intended  to 
be  dogmatic  and  dictorial,  it  is  the  result  of  the 
characteristic  of  my  mind,  connected  with  the 
fact  that  I  have  not  been  trained  to  debate.  My 
pursuits  have  not  led  one  to  minute  discussions 
and  when  I  get  up  to  address  the  Senate,  it  is  but 
simply  to  state  a  conviction ;  and  when  I  am  not 
matched  with  one  as  skillful,  as  acute  by  nature, 
and  as  trained  by  his  profession,  as  the  Senator 
from  Louisiana,  it  is  but  natural  that  I  should 
appear  to  have  been  the  hasty  man  in  the  debate, 
whilst  he  must  have  the  advantage  resulting 
from  that  skill  which  his  training  gives." 

Mr.  Benjamin:  "Mr.  President,  it  is  certainly 
a  matter  of  no  small  embarrassment  to  reply  pub 
licly  to  the  observations  which  have  been  made 
by  the  Senator  from  Mississippi  as  well  as  those 
of  the  Senator  from  Maryland.  I  think  I  may 
appeal  with  perfect  confidence  to  my  brother  Sen 
ators  that  upon  no  occasions  have  they  observed 
in  my  deportment  toward  them  in  the  Senate, 
anything  but  the  most  courteous  manner.  Pa 
tient,  myself,  of  any  differences  of  opinion  in 
debate,  it  is  but  natural  that  I  expect  a  similar 
forebearance,  on  the  part  of  others,  and  I  have 
endeavored  upon  all  ocasions,  that  my  manner 
toward  my  brother  Senators  should  be  such  that 
whilst  we  differ  in  opinion  upon  important  sub 
jects,  there  should  be  left  no  sting  in  the  debates 
which  might  occur  between  us,  that  none  but  the 


60  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

kindliest  and  best  feeling  may  exist.  I  have 
listened  with  great  satisfaction  to  the  statement 
of  the  Senator  from  Mississippi.  I  think  it  does 
him  honor,  I  will  say,  sir,  that  I  was  utterly  sur 
prised  when  I  found  him  charging  me  yesterday 
with  misrepresentations  of  his  remarks.  That 
surprise  has  been  accounted  for  this  morning  by 
the  statement  made  by  the  Senator  from  Mary 
land.  We  were  speaking  of  different  papers ;  we 
were  each  advised  of  a  different  state  of  facts; 
and,  under  the  circumstances,  it  is  less  surprising 
to  me  now  than  it  was  then,  that  the  Senator 
from  Mississippi  could  by  any  possibility  have 
supposed  that  I  was  endeavoring  to  misrepresent 
his  remarks.  I  will  say  further  that  I  did  feel  at 
the  time  that  there  was  an  asperity,  an  undue 
asperity,  in  the  manner  and  tone  of  the  Senator 
from  Mississippi  toward  me.  Feeling  so,  it  was 
but  natural,  as  he  himself  has  said,  that  I  should 
express  resentment,  in  relation  to  it,  tempered,  I 
trust,  by  the  tone  of  dignity  which  ought  always 
to  be  observed  in  the  Senate,  and  by  that  respect 
for  my  fellow-members  which  it  is  my  desire  al 
ways  to  manifest.  I  am  very  much  gratified  to 
hear  this  morning  that  his  feelings  toward  me 
have  been  such  always  as  he  has  stated.  I  am 
sure  I  have  had  for  him  none  but  sentiments  of 
esteem,  and  I  may  add,  candidly,  admiration.  I 
say  it  without  flattery.  I  shall  be  very  happy  to 
forget  everything  that  has  occurred  between  us, 
except  the  pleasant  passage  of  this  morning." 

Mr.  Hayne  (South  Carolina)  :  "I  arise,  gentle 
men,  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  to  say  but  one 
word.  I  congratulate  the  Senate  upon  the  arnica- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ble  manner  in  which  this  business  has  been  ac 
commodated  ;  and  I  would  say  but  a  single  word, 
especially  in  reference  to  my  young  friends. 
Whenever  they  are  called  to  the  field,  in  a  case 
like  this,  let  them  always  select  sensible  seconds, 
as  their  friends,  who  in  the  first  instance,  must 
decide  whether  blood  ought  to  be  spilt;  and  if 
blood  ought  not  to  be  spilt  the  responsibility  will 
be  upon  the  seconds.  That  is  all,  sir." 

When  the  provisional  government  of  the  Con 
federacy  was  started  in  its  course,  in  February, 
1861,  Jefferson  Davis  appointed  Mr.  Benjamin  to 
his  cabinet  as  Attorney  General.  The  with 
drawal  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  from  the  Union 
had  been  formally  proclaimed  by  Mr.  Slidell. 
However  the  leave-taking  of  Mr.  Benjamin,  in  a 
speech  delivered  February  4,  1861,  was  notable. 

Rebellion!  the  very  word  is  a  confession;  an 
avowal  of  tyranny,  outrage  and  oppression.  It 
is  taken  from  the  despots  code,  and  has  no  terror 
for  other  than  slavish  souls.  When,  sir,  did  mil 
lions  of  people,  as  a  single  man,  rise  in  organized, 
deliberate,  unimpassioned  rebellion  against  just 
ice,  truth,  and  honor  ?  ...  Traitors !  Treason ! 
ay,  sir,  the  people  of  the  South  imitate  the  glory 
in  such  treason  as  glowed  in  the  soul  of  Hamp- 
den;  just  such  treason  as  leaped  in  living  flame 
from  the  impassioned  lips  of  Henry;  just  such 
treason  as  encircles  with  a  sacred  halo  the  undy 
ing  name  of  Washington !  ... 

Great  God!  sir,  since  when  has  the  necessity 
arisen  of  recalling  to  American  legislators  the 
lessons  of  freedom  taught  in  lisping  childhood  by 
loving  mothers ;  that  pervade  the  atmosphere  we 


62  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

have  breathed  from  infancy;  that  so  form  part 
of  our  very  being,  that  in  the  absence  we  would 
lose  the  consciousness  of  our  own  identity ! 
Heaven  be  praised  that  all  have  not  forgotten 
them;  and  when  we  shall  have  left  these  fami 
liar  halls,  and  when  force  bills,  blockades,  armies, 
navies,  and  all  the  accustomed  coercive  appliances 
of  despots  shall  be  proposed  and  advocated,  voices 
shall  be  heard  from  this  side  of  the  chamber  that 
will  make  its  very  roof  resound  with  the  indignant 
clamour  of  outraged  freedom.  .  .  . 

And  now  to  you  Mr.  President,  and  to  my 
brother  Senators  on  all  sides  of  the  Chamber, 
I  bid  a  respectful  farewell;  with  many  of  those 
from  whom  I  have  been  radically  separated  in  po 
litical  sentiment,  my  personal  relations  have  been 
kindly,  and  have  inspired  me  with  a  respect  and 
esteem  that  I  shall  not  willingly  forget;  with 
those  around  me  from  the  Southern  States,  I 
part  as  men  part  from  brothers  on  the  eve  of  a 
temporary  absence, — but  to  you,  noble  and  gener 
ous  friends,  who,  from  beneath  other  skies,  pos 
sess  hearts  that  beat  in  sympathy  with  ours;  to 
you,  who  have  made  our  cause  your  cause,  and 
from  many  of  whom  I  feel  I  part  forever,  what 
shall  I,  can  I,  say?  Naught,  I  know  and  feel,  is 
needed  for  myself ;  but  this  I  will  say  for  the  peo 
ple  in  whose  name  I  speak  to-day ;  whether  pros 
perous  or  adverse  fortunes  await  you,  one 
priceless  treasure  is  yours — the  assurance  that 
our  entire  people  honor  your  names,  and 
hold  them  in  grateful  and  affectionate  mem 
ory.  But  with  still  sweeter  and  more  touching 
return  shall  your  unselfish  devotion  be  rewarded. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  63 

When  in  after  days,  the  story  of  the  present 
shall  be  written;  when  history  shall  have  passed 
her  stern  sentence  on  the  erring  men  who  have 
driven  their  unoffending  brethren  from  the  shel 
ter  of  their  common  home,  your  names  will  derive 
fresh  luster  from  the  contrast;  and  when  your 
children  shall  hear  repeated  the  familiar  tale, 
their  very  souls  will  stand  a-tiptoe  as  they  glory 
in  their  lineage  from  men  of  spirit  as  generous 
and  of  patriotism  as  high  hearted  as  ever  illus 
trated  or  adorned  the  American  Senate. 

Mr.  Benjamin  held  three  portfolios  at  different 
times,  and  lastly  that  of  Secretary  of  State.  He 
was  universally  declared  "the  brains  of  the  Con 
federacy."  Upon  the  flight  of  the  President  and 
his  cabinet,  the  cause  having  been  lost,  we  see  the 
great  West  Indian — we  cannot  refrain  from  call 
ing  him  that — separated  from  the  party  and  es 
caping  in  a  little  open  boat  off  the  coast  of  Flor 
ida.  Gone  forever  from  the  land  where  he  had 
risen  to  such  eminence,  where  his  name  had  been 
so  much  honored,  he  was  now  a  wanderer  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe,  with  no  home,  no  country, 
no  aims.  One  thing  only  was  his  solace — the 
star  of  hope,  hope  born  of  a  nature  too  transcend 
ent  to  allow  any  change  or  chance  of  fortune  to 
wreck  his  gallant  career.  He  landed  on  the  beach 
somewhere  in  the  Bahama  Islands,  and  eventually 
sailed  to  Bermuda,  from  whence  he  took  passage 
on  a  steamer  bound  for  Liverpool.  In  England 
he  made  his  permanent  residence,  and  though 
fifty  years  of  age,  was  not  too  disspirited  to  be 
gin  the  study  of  English  law.  He  became  a 


64  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

student  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  consequently  and 
unavoidably  a  master  in  English  law. 

His  wife  and  children  resided  in  Paris,  while 
he  plodded  along  in  London  with  a  half -respecta 
ble  legal  practice.  But  all  this  while  he  was  pre 
paring  a  work  which  he  published  under  the  title, 
"A  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Sale  of  Personal  Prop 
erty,"  which  was  adopted  as  an  authority  on  that 
subject  in  the  English  courts.  His  success  was 
now  guaranteed,  he  became  queen's  counsel,  his 
arguments  were  noted,  and  he  soon  decided  to 
appear  in  cases  solely  before  the  House  of  Lords 
and  the  Privy  Council. 

Finally  in  1883,  his  health  failing,  he  retired  to 
Paris  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  with  his 
family  there.  On  the  occasion  of  his  departure 
from  London,  he  was  tendered  a  farewell  ban 
quet  at  the  Inner  Temple,  which  was  a  notable 
event.  Thus  is  completed  the  story  of  this  un 
usual  man.  Truly  as  Jefferson  Davis  said  of  him, 
he  was  "a  Hebrew  with  Egyptian  principles."  In 
him  the  flexibility  of  the  Jew  was  combined  with 
qualities  that  come  only  by  inspiration  and  illum 
ination  such  as  are  so  extraordinary  in  the  mys 
terious  "man  of  the  Nile  Valley." 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  65 


IX. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  CHAPLAINS. 

On  December  7,  1857,  which  was  the  first  day 
of  the  session  (of  the  35th  Congress),  a  resolu 
tion  was  offered  to  change  the  former  mode  of 
selecting  a  regular  chaplain  for  the  Senate.  The 
custom  had  been  to  agree  upon  some  clergyman 
of  Washington,  who  officiated  at  the  opening  of 
each  day's  session;  but  for  divers  reasons  many 
senators  became  dissatisfied,  and  after  some  dis 
cussion  adopted  the  plan  of  inviting  the  clergy 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  general,  without 
regard  to  creed,  to  officiate  in  turn. 

There  was  much  interest  manifested  in  this 
arrangement.  The  plan  operated  in  such  a  way 
as  to  provide  one  day,  for  example,  an  Episco 
palian,  the  next  day  a  Roman  Catholic,  or  a  Jew 
ish  Rabbi,  and  went  the  rounds  of  all  the  denomi 
nations.  I  remember  seeing  ecclesiastics  in  the 
black  robe  of  the  Jesuit,  others  in  the  white  robe 
of  the  Dominican,  and  still  others  vested  or  not 
vested  according  to  their  church  authority. 

The  discussion  was  opened  by  Jacob  Collamer, 
or  Judge  Collamer,  of  Vermont,  whose  gravity 
and  weight  of  character  always  controlled  more 
ardent  natures  and  caused  him  to  be  called  "The 
Nestor  of  the  Senate." 


66  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

The  resolution  was  offered  by  Senator  Mason, 
of  Virginia. 

Mr.  Collamer.  This  resolution  requests  the 
President  to  invite  all  clergymen  to  whom  the 
office  may  be  acceptable  to  officiate  as  Chaplains. 
It  seems  to  me  that  it  will  be  somewhat  imprac 
ticable  to  carry  it  out  and  that  it  will  give  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  to  our  President.  The  office  might 
be  acceptable  to  clergymen  from  every  part  of 
the  Union  visiting  friends  here,  and  that  would 
be  constantly  interfering  with  any  arrangements 
which  might  be  made  with  the  clergymen  of  the 
city  on  whom  we  could  rely.  If  we  relied  on  the 
clergymen  of  the  city,  they  could  arrange  among 
themselves  the  order  in  which  they  should  offi 
ciate;  whereas,  if  the  invitation  be  extended  to  all 
clergymen,  we  never  can  know  when  they  are  to 
attend  and  when  not.  I  therefore  move  that  the 
words,  "of  the  City  of  Washington"  be  inserted 
after  the  word,  "clergymen." 

Mr.  Mason.  It  would  be  better  to  insert  the 
words,  "of  the  District  of  Columbia." 

Mr.  Collamer.    I  have  no  objection  to  that. 

Mr.  Mason.  I  accept  the  modification.  I  have 
no  choice  in  the  matter  one  way  or  the  other.  I 
offered  the  resolution  in  order  that  we  might  dis 
pose  in  this  general  way  of  the  subject  of  a  Chap 
lain  to  the  Senate.  Every  Senator,  I  have  no 
doubt,  has  had  some  experience  (I  think  it  is  very 
unfortunate,  but  perhaps  it  is  incident  to  the  sub 
ject  matter)  that  a  sort  of  competition  has  grown 
up  by  the  usage  of  the  Senate  in  electing  a  Chap 
lain,  which  I  have  thought  is  not  altogether  con 
sistent  with  the  office  of  a  clergyman  or  a  pastor. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  67 

I  will  not  say,  by  any  means,  a  competition  so 
much  among  the  clergymen  themselves,  perhaps, 
as  amongst  Senators,  who  desire  to  prefer  partic 
ular  persons ;  but  the  fact  is  that  it  has  become  a 
matter  of  that  kind,  and  it  is  not  entirely  agree 
able  to  me,  certainly,  and  I  dare  say  is  not  to 
other  Senators,  to  have  that  state  of  affairs  exist 
ing. 

My  idea  of  the  practice  that  will  arise  under 
this  resolution,  especially  now,  since  it  is  confined 
to  the  clergymen  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  is 
that  the  President  of  the  Senate,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  each  session  of  Congress,  will  sub 
mit  to  the  clergymen  of  the  District  that  those  to 
whom  the  office  may  be  agreeable  shall  arrange 
among  themselves  and  prescribe  the  mode  in 
which  they  shall  alternate,  in  order  that  we  may 
have  their  services  every  morning  as  usual,  and 
that  the  service  so  proffered  shall  be  gratuitous — 
which  is  the  true  footing,  I  have  always  under 
stood,  of  a  clergymen's  position.  Whether  there 
may  not  be  a  proper  acknowledgment  of  the  ser 
vices  of  these  gentlemen  at  the  end  of  the  session, 
every  Senator  will  decide  for  himself.  My  own 
opinion  is  fixed  on  that  point. 

Mr.  Biggs.  Mr.  President,  I  understand,  from 
the  remarks  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Vir 
ginia,  that  the  design  and  object  of  this  resolu 
tion  is  substantially  to  abolish  the  office  of  Chap- 
Ian  as  it  has  heretofore  existed  under  the  prac 
tice  of  the  Senate,  and  to  invite  the  clergymen  of 
this  District  to  open  the  daily  sessions  of  this 
House  with  prayer.  I  am  apprehensive,  however, 
that  there  may  be  some  difficulty  in  attaining  this 


58  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

object,  on  account  of  the  wordings  of  the  resolu 
tion.  I  am  glad  the  Senator  from  Virginia  has 
introduced  the  resolution.  It  seems  to  be  a  very 
appropriate  one,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances 
that  surround  the  Senate  and  the  practice  that  has 
heretofore  obtained  on  the  subject.  I  would  sug 
gest,  however,  in  order  to  avoid  any  difficulty 
hereafter,  that  the  resolution  be  amended  so  as  to 
attain,  beyond  all  doubt,  what  is  desired  by  my 
self,  as  well  as,  I  believe,  by  the  Senator  from 
Virginia,  by  adding  to  it  the  words:  "And  that 
the  office  of  Chaplain  of  the  Senate  is  hereby 
abolished." 

Mr.  Mason.  I  do  not  understand  that  there  is 
any  such  office  as  Chaplain  to  the  Senate. 

I  do  not  remember  whether  there  is  a  rule  on 
the  subject;  but  the  usage  of  the  Senate  has  been 
(in  conformity,  I  suppose,  to  the  general  public 
opinion  of  the  land)  that  our  duties  here  should 
be  commenced  by  a  proper  appeal  to  the  Almighty 
every  morning;  but  I  do  not  look  upon  it  as  an 
office.  I  certainly  do  not  at  all  contemplate  inter 
fering  with  the  usage  of  opening  our  delibera 
tions  in  the  morning  with  Divine  services ;  but  on 
the  contrary,  to  continue  it  and  place  it  on  what 
seems  to  me  a  more  reputable  and  more  proper 
footing.  If  the  honorable  Senator  were  to  offer  a 
proposition  to  abolish  the  office,  it  would  perhaps 
engender  some  difference  of  opinion  among  Sen 
ators  which  I  would  rather  avoid. 

Mr.  Biggs.  My  object  is  precisely  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Senator  from  Virginia.  I  am  decid 
edly  with  him  as  to  the  manner  of  opening  the 
daily  sessions  with  prayer.  I  think  it  is  entirely; 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  69 

proper.  But  if  I  understand  the  usage  of  the 
Senate  connected  with  the  rules  of  this  body  and 
some  joint  resolutions  that  have  been  passed  by 
both  Houses,  the  office  of  Chaplain  is  recognized. 
So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  my  object  will  be  at 
tained  if  the  effect  of  this  resolution  will  be  to 
rid  us  of  the  office  without  introducing  any 
amendment  at  all — and  I  understood  the  Senator 
from  Virginia  in  the  resolution  designs  that.  That 
being  the  design  and  effect  of  the  resolution,  my 
object  is  accomplished. 

Mr.  Mason.  If  there  be  any  rule  in  relation  to 
the  Chaplain,  I  ask  that  the  Chair  direct  it  to  be 
read ;  and  if  it  be  inconsistent  with  his  resolution, 
I  propose  to  repeal  it. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  There  is  a  joint  rule  on  the  sub 
ject  between  the  two  Houses. 

The  Secretary.  It  is  a  provision  passed  at  each 
session. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  Chair  is  not 
aware  of  any  rule  for  the  joint  action  of  both 
Houses  on  this  subject. 

Mr.  Mason.    I  was  not. 

Mr.  Clay.  I  am  opposed  to  the  adoption  of 
this  resolution,  believing,  as  I  do,  that  it  will 
prove  both  unwise  and  inexpedient  in  practice. 
The  Senator  from  North  Carolina,  as  I  under 
stand  him,  contemplates  procuring  the  services  of 
a  Chaplain  without  any  remuneration  whatever. 
I  do  not  so  understand  the  Senator  from  Vir 
ginia.  I  think  we  should  not  "muzzle  the  ox  that 
treadeth  out  the  corn."  I  believe  that  "the  la 
borer  is  worthy  of  his  hire"  I  think  we  shall  find 
if  we  adopt  this  resolution,  and  it  shall  be  con- 


70  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

strued  as  it  is  understood  by  the  Senator  from 
North  Carolina,  that  patriotism  will  fail,  that 
even  religion  will  fail,  to  induce  men  to  come 
here  every  day  gratuitously  to  pray  for  this  body. 
I  think,  if  we  intend  and  desire  to  have  the  ses 
sions  of  this  body  opened  with  daily  prayer,  we 
can  only  achieve  that  desire  by  employing  and 
paying  a  man  for  that  purpose.  I  do  not  myself 
see  any  serious  objection  to  that.  In  these  de 
generate  days,  I  know  none  of  the  clergy  who 
live  purely  by  charity,  who  take  their  staff  and 
walk  abroad,  getting  their  daily  meals  and  their 
clothing,  as  wayfaring  men,  from  every  good  Sa 
maritan  they  may  meet.  I  know,  in  my  own 
State,  that  all  the  stationed  clergy  receive  regular 
salaries  or  compensation  for  their  services.  I 
understand  that  it  is  so  in  this  city.  What  right 
have  we  to  expect  that  the  clergymen  of  this 
city,  purely  for  the  honor  of  the  thing  or  purely 
for  the  sake  of  serving  God,  will  come  here  and 
open  our  sessions  with  service  without  any  com 
pensation  whatever?  There  is  an  old  adage,  and 
a  very  true  one,  that  "what  is  everybody's  busi 
ness  is  nobody's  business."  And  if  we  adopt  the 
resolution  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia,  and 
empower  you,  sir,  or  the  Vice-President,  to  in 
vite  the  clergymen  of  this  city  generally  to  offi 
ciate,  we  shall  find  that  oftentimes  we  shall  have 
to  go  to  work  without  prayers.  I  trust  that  the 
resolution  will  not  be  adopted. 

Mr.  Seward.  Mr.  President,  I  hope  the  hon 
orable  Senator  who  last  addressed  the  Senate  will 
reconsider  the  opinion  he  has  formed  on  this  sub 
ject,  and  suffer  this  resolution  to  pass.  I  have 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  71 

felt  ever  since  I  have  been  here,  that  it  brought 
scandal  on  the  cause  of  the  Christian  religion  to 
have  an  active  canvass  here  for  Chaplain.  And  I 
am  very  glad  that  there  is  a  mode  proposed  by 
which  that  scandal  can  be  hereafter  removed. 

The  form  which  is  suggested  by  the  Senator 
from  Virginia  commends  itself  entirely  to  my 
approbation ;  and  the  more  so  because  to  me  it  is 
not  new.  So  long  as  I  have  been  acquainted  with 
public  affairs  in  the  State  of  New  York,  or  for 
nearly  all  that  period — certainly  for  fifteen  or 
twenty  years — there  has  been  no  single  appoint 
ment  of  a  chaplain  by  the  Legislature  of  New 
York;  but  each  House  of  the  Legislature,  either 
severally  or  the  two  houses  together,  pass  a  reso 
lution  substantially  like  this,  intimating  their  de 
sire  that  the  clergyman  of  the  City  of  Albany, 
the  State  capital,  to  be  designated  by  the  presid 
ing  officer  or  officers,  shall  alternately  perform 
this  religious  service  for  the  two  Houses,  at  such 
times  and  under  such  arrangement  as  may  be 
agreeable  to  them. 

The  difficulty  which  is  suggested  by  the  honor 
able  Senator  from  Alabama  does  not  exist  there, 
because  their  resolution  always  closes  with  a  pro 
vision  that  the  usual  amount  per  diem  shall  be 
distributed  amongst  the  clergymen  who  perform 
the  service,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  days 
they  attend.  Such  an  amendment  to  this  resolu 
tion  would  remove  from  it  all  objection,  and 
would  be  perfectly  proper.  For  once,  I  should 
have  no  objection  to  it;  but,  at  the  same  time,  I 
am  quite  willing  that  that  part  of  the  subject 
shall  be  postponed  until  we  have  made  an  experi- 


72  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ment  of  the  new  mode ;  and  then,  at  the  close  of 
the  session,  an  appeal  can  be  made  to  the  Senate 
in  regard  to  the  chaplains.  I  have  no  doubt  it  will 
be  responded  to  as  well  at  the  end  of  the  session 
as  at  the  commencement.  My  desire  is  that  the 
old  system  shall  be  changed,  and  I  am  quite 
willing  to  adopt  the  one  now  proposed. 

Mr.  Mason.  Perhaps  it  is  becoming,  having 
offered  the  resolution,  that  I  should  say  a  single 
word  in  reply  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ala 
bama.  I  have  not  conferred  with  the  clergymen 
of  the  city  of  Washington  or  the  District  at  all. 
I  did  show  what  I  proposed  to  do  to  the  reverend 
and  excellent  gentleman  who  was  Chaplain  at  the 
last  session  (Rev.  Wm.  Hill),  who  happened  to 
be  present,  who  is  one  of  the  clergymen  of  this 
city,  and  he  said  he  was  satisfied  it  would  be  con 
sidered  a  compliment,  and  a  very  grateful  one  to 
the  clergy  of  the  District.  I  have  just  learned, 
what  I  am  told  is  an  undoubted  fact,  that  the  first 
clergyman  who  officiated  in  the  Continental  Con 
gress,  was  the  late  Bishop  White  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  he  did  it  on  the  express  condition  that 
no  compensation  should  be  offered. 

I  think,  appreciating  as  I  do  the  office  of  a 
clergyman — although  they  are  a  class  of  our  fel 
low  citizens  with  whom  it  has  not  been  my  for 
tune  to  be  very  much  connected  in  any  way,  but 
I  do  appreciate  their  office — it  will  be  peculiarly 
acceptable  to  the  clergymen  if  presented  in  this 
form. 

The  President  pro  tern  put  the  question  on  the 
resolution,  and  it  was  adopted. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  73 


X. 

DOUGLAS  I  THE  DEMOSTHENES  OF  THE  SENATE. 

I  can  see  him  now  as  he  sat  there  in  that  seat. 
He  had  a  massive  head  covered  with  rich  brown 
hair,  a  high  forehead  and  deep-set  eyes  that  were 
dark  and  full  of  fire.  His  complexion  was 
healthy;  he  was  smooth  shaven,  had  a  clean-cut 
mouth,  square  chin,  and  lines  that  gave  him  an 
expression  of  sadness.  He  was  broad-shouldered, 
and  deep-chested;  a  little  below  the  average 
height;  and  his  voice  of  baritone  pitch  and  ex 
tremely  pleasing. 

In  debate  he  was  unconquerable.  With  the 
rapidity  of  lightning,  his  alert  mind  perceived  the 
strength  or  weakness  of  a  point,  and  when  he  was 
unable  to  turn  an  argument  to  his  own  advantage 
he  would  hopelessly  befog  it  for  anyone  else. 
Without  ornament  of  speech,  he  was  master  of 
rugged  English;  he  never  halted,  never  used  a 
simile,  never  fell  back  on  parallels  of  ancient  his 
tory.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  was  an 
other  Demosthenes. 

We  read  that  Demosthenes  was  vehement  in 
reasoning,  but  was  without  any  appearance  of 
art.  He  railed  against  Philip  of  Macedon,  boldly, 
defiantly,  and  with  the  spirit  of  freedom.  He  was 
the  foremost  man  in  the  State ;  his  principal  fame 


74  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

resting  upon  his  great  orations.  The  likeness  be 
tween  the  two  statesmen,  the  ancient  and  modern, 
is  apparent,  particularly  in  their  style  of  oratory. 

Douglas  was  called  the  "Little  Giant"  because 
of  his  marvelous  ability  and  comparatively  small 
person.  At  the  threshold  of  his  Congressional 
career,  which  began  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  he  became  the  object  of  all  eyes.  Socially 
he  was  undrilled ;  nevertheless,  with  his  keen  ob 
servation,  his  sense  of  proportion,  and  natural  wit, 
he  soon  took  rank  in  Washington  society.  He 
liked  better  to  be  with  men,  though,  ana  to  feel 
the  touch  of  comradeship.  He  would  even  grow 
to  call  them  by  their  first  names.  One  day  going 
up  to  Mr.  Beverly  Tucker,  the  prominent  Vir 
ginian,  he  put  his  arm  upon  his  shoulder,  and 
said,  in  his  outspoken  way,  "Bev,  old  boy,  I  love 
you."  "Douglas,"  he  returned,  "will  you  always 
love  me?"  "Yes,  I  will/  "But,"  persisted 
Tucker,  "will  you  love  me  when  you  get  to  be 
President?"  "I  will.  What  will  you  want  me  to 
do  for  you?"  "Well,"  said  Tucker,  "when  you 
get  to  be  President,  all  I  want  you  to  do  for  me  is 
to  pick  some  public  office,  a  nice  one,  and  put 
your  arm  around  my  neck,  just  as  you  are  doing 
now,  and  call  me  Bev."  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
Mr.  Douglas  enjoyed  the  humor  of  Mr.  Tucker's 
remarks.  That  would  be  putting  it  mildly. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  born  in  Vermont,  in 
1813,  a  descendant  of  true  American  stock.  The 
family,  however,  was  of  Scotch  origin,  as  the 
name  implies,  and  was  such  stock  as  helped  to 
make  our  land  what  it  is  in  robust  strength. 

His  grandfather  fought  with  Washington,  and 


/y,  DOUGUA& 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  75 

was  with  him  that  hard  winter  at  Valley  Forge. 
When  Stephen  was  an  infant,  his  father  died.  He 
then,  with  his  widowed  mother,  went  to  live  with 
an  uncle  on  a  New  England  farm.  He  grew  up 
a  delicate  child.  Not  having  the  means  of  acquir 
ing  an  academic  education,  and  seeing  the  future 
to  hold  naught  for  him  save  what  he  could  get  out 
of  it  by  dint  of  hard  labor,  he  trudged  one  day  to 
a  small  town  and  apprenticed  himself  to  the  trade 
of  cabinetmaking.  Little  did  he  dream  that  an 
other  day  not  very  far  distant  when  in  the  zenith 
of  his  powers,  he  would  be  in  the  race  to  become 
the  maker  of  cabinets  of  men. 

He  abandoned  his  chosen  trade  after  two  years, 
on  account  of  his  health,  which  was  not  hardy 
enough  for  the  demands  made  upon  it.  Some 
time  afterwards  he  headed  West  and  resolved 
never  to  turn  back  until  he  could  show  evidences 
of  success.  Eventually  settling  in  Illinois,  and 
taking  up  the  practice  of  law,  for  which  he  had 
prepared  in  the  office  of  a  Mr.  Andrews,  in 
Cleveland,  he  made  so  decided  a  success  as  to 
open  for  himself  a  public  career  that  placed  him 
at  the  age  of  thirty  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

Through  all  the  hardships  of  his  early  life,  and 
later  in  his  wanderings  through  the  West,  he  was 
good-humored  and  hopeful.  In  the  year  1843, 
Mr.  Douglas  was  elected  to  Congress.  As  a  rep 
resentative  from  that  progressive  State,  he  had 
her  every  interest  at  heart,  but  refrained  from 
entering  the  debates  of  the  House.  However, 
with  an  eye  to  the  future,  he  watched  carefully, 
absorbed  much,  and  was  heard  speaking  to  some 
purpose  in  the  years  following. 

In  the  Senate,  March  20,  1856,  as  chairman  of 


76  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

the  Committee  on  Territories,  he  introduced  the 
bill  "to  authorize  the  people  of  the  Territory  of 
Kansas  to  form  a  constitution  and  State  govern 
ment,  preparatory  to  their  admission  into  the 
Union,  when  they  have  the  requisite  population." 

Mr.  Douglas  said : 

Mr.  President:  I  will  ask  the  indulgence  of 
the  Senate  for  such  length  of  time  as  the  subject 
may  require,  provided  my  strength  does  not  fail 
me,  while  I  submit  some  views  in  vindication  of 
the  majority  report.  ...  In  the  first  place, 
however,  as  we  have  taken  up  for  consideration 
the  bill  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Territories. 
...  I  shall  give  a  brief  exposition  of  the  pro 
visions  and  principles  of  the  bill. 

The  first  section  provides  that,  when  the  Ter 
ritory  of  Kansas  shall  contain  ninety-three  thou 
sand  four  hundred  and  twenty  inhabitants,  to  be 
ascertained  by  a  census  taken  in  conformity  with 
law,  a  convention  may  be  called  by  the  legislature 
of  the  Territory  to  form  a  constitution  and  State 
government.  .  .  . 

I  have  been  absent  for  the  reason  that  the  state 
of  my  health  did  not  render  it  prudent  for  me  to 
be  present,  and  for  the  further  reason  that  it  had 
been  distinctly  understood  and  unanimously 
agreed  after  a  brief  discussion,  that  all  further 
discussion  of  the  subject  should  be  postponed  for 
one  week,  and  then  to  be  resumed  on  the  bill  now 
under  consideration,  when  according  to  the  cour 
tesies  of  the  Senate,  as  well  as  the  rules  of  par 
liamentary  proceedings,  I  would  be  entitled  to 
open  the  debate  as  the  author  of  the  report  and 
bill,  and  the  Senator  from  Vermont  (Mr.  Col- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  77 

lamer),  as  the  author  of  the  minority  report, 
would  be  entitled  to  reply,  after  which  the  sub 
ject  would  be  open  for  free  discussion  by  any 
senator  who  might  desire  to  participate  in  it. 


78  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XL 

ON  THE  ADMISSION  OF  KANSAS. 

The  debate  on  the  question  of  admission  of 
Kansas  was  so  protracted,  and  the  feeling  on  both 
sides  so  bitter,  that  it  must  be  acknowledged  the 
contest  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  that  led  ulti 
mately  to  secession  and  the  Civil  War. 

The  question  was  how  Kansas  should  be  admit 
ted.  Should  it  come  in  with  "outlaw  slavery"  or 
not?  Should  it  come  in  with  its  own  constitution, 
if  that  constitution  favored  slavery?  Abolition 
ists  were  strongly  opposed  to  its  admission  if  it 
proved  thereby  an  extension  of  slavery  in  the 
Union;  whereas  the  slavehokling  South  arrayed 
all  her  forces  in  battle  line  to  conduct  the  new 
State  into  the  Union  as  a  sister,  or  kindred  State. 
Mr.  Douglas  fought  with  all  his  courage,  which 
was  colossal,  to  allow  "State  sovereignty."  If 
the  constitution  embodied  slavery,  and  was  the 
will  of  the  people,  it  should  be  upheld,  and  he 
stood  ready  to  uphold  it. 

President  Pierce  had  yielded  to  the  pressure 
brought  to  bear  by  the  slaveholding  element,  and 
in  his  message  to  Congress  antagonized  the  anti- 
slavery  contestants.  Senator  Seward  took  up  the 
cause  of  abolition,  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech, 
April  9,  said : 

"In  like  manner  the  President  assails  and  stig- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  79 

matizes  those  who  defend  and  maintain  the  cause 
of  Kansas  as  "men  of  narrow  views  and  sec 
tional  purposes  engaged  in  those  wild  and 
chimeral  schemes  of  social  change  which  are  gen 
erated  one  after  another  in  the  unstable  minds  of 
visionary  sophists  and  interested  agitators" — 
"mad  men,  raising  the  storm  of  frensy  and  fac 
tion,"  "sectional  agitators,"  "enemies  of  the  Con 
stitution,  who  have  surrendered  themselves  far 
as  to  a  fanatical  devotion  to  the  supposed  inter 
ests  of  the  relatively  few  Africans  in  the  United 
Slates,  as  totally  to  abandon  and  disregard  the 
interests  of  the  twenty-five  millions  of  Ameri 
cans,  and  trample  under  foot  the  injunctions  of 
moral  and  constitutional  obligation,  and  to  en 
gage  in  plans  of  vindictive  hostility  against  those 
who  are  associated  with  them  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  common  heritage  of  our  free  institution." 
Sir,  the  President's  defence  on  this  occasion,  if 
not  a  matter  simply  personal,  is  at  least  one  of 
temporary  and  ephemeral  importance. 

Possibly,  all  the  advantages  he  will  gain  by 
transferring  to  his  accuser,  a  portion  of  the  popu 
lar  prejudice  against  abolition  and  abolitionists 
can  be  spared  to  him.  It  would  be  wise,  however, 
for  those  whose  interests  are  inseparable  from 
slavery,  to  reflect  that  abolition  will  gain  an 
equivalent  benefit  from  the  identification  of  the 
President's  defence  with  their  cherished  institu 
tion.  Abolition  is  a  slow  but  irrepressible  upris 
ing  of  principles  of  natural  justice  and  human 
ity,  obnoxious  to  prejudice,  because  they  conflict 
inconveniently  with  existing  material,  social  and 
political  interests.  It  belongs  to  others  than 


80  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

statesman,  charged  with  the  case  of  present  in 
terests,  to  conduct  the  social  reformation  of  man 
kind  in  its  broadest  bearing.  I  leave  to  Aboli 
tionists  their  own  work  of  self-vindication.  I 
may,  however,  remind  slaveholders  that  there  is 
a  time  when  oppression  and  persecution  cease  to 
be  effectual  against  such  movements ;  and  then 
the  odiom  they  have  before  unjustly  incurred  be 
comes  an  element  of  strength  and  power. 

Christianity,  blindly  maligned  during  three  cen 
turies  by  Pretors,  Governors,  Senates,  Councils, 
and  Emperors,  towered  above  its  enemies  in  a 
fourth ;  and  even  the  Cross  on  which  its  Foun 
der  had  expired,  and  which  therefore  was  the  em 
blem  of  its  shame,  became  the  sign  under  which  it 
went  forth  evermore  thereafter,  conquering  and 
to  conquer.  Abolition  is  yet  in  its  first  century. 
The  president  raises  in  his  deference  a  false  issue, 
and  elaborates  an  irrevelant  argument  to  prove 
that  Congress  has  no  right  or  power,  nor  has  any 
sister  State  any  right  or  power,  to  interfere 
within  a  slave  State  by  legislation,  or  force  to 
abolish  slavery  therein — as  if  you,  or  I,  or  any 
other  responsible  man,  ever  maintained  the  con 
trary.  The  President  distorts  the  Constitution 
from  its  simple  text,  so  as  to  make  it  expressly 
and  directly  defend,  protect,  and  guarantee  Afri 
can  slavery.  Thus  he  alleges  that  "the  Govern 
ment"  which  resulted  from  the  Revolution  was 
a  federal  Republic  of  the  free  white  men  of  the 
colonies ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  asserts  the  political  equality 
of  all  men ;  and  even  the  Constitution  itsdf  care 
fully  avoids  any  political  recognition  not  merely 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  81 

of  slavery,  but  of  the  diversity  of  races.  The 
President  represents  the  Fathers  as  having  con 
templated  and  provided  for  a  permanent  increase 
of  the  number  of  slaves  in  some  of  the  States, 
and  therefore  forbidden  Congress  to  touch  slav 
ery  in  the  way  of  attack  or  offense,  and  as  having 
therefore  also  placed  it  under  the  general  safe 
guard  of  the  Constitution;  whereas  the  Fathers, 
by  authorizing  Congress  to  abolish  the  African 
slave  trade  after  1808,  as  a  means  of  attack,  in 
flicted  on  slavery  in  the  States  a  blow,  of  which 
they  expected  it  to  languish  immediately,  and 
ultimately  to  expire. 


Mr.  Douglas  was  in  the  center  of  the  fight  all 
the  time.    He  spoke  defiantly  as  follows : 


I  do  not  intend  to  prolong  this  debate.  I  wish 
to  bring  these  gentlemen  to  the  test.  When  they 
taunt  us  with  being  cut  down,  one  by  one,  gradu 
ally  but  certainly  diminishing  until  we  shall  have 
been  swept  away,  all  we  ask  of  you  is  to  bring 
your  men  up  to  the  line ;  stand  up  to  your  princi 
ples;  redeem  your  pledges.  You  need  not  trou 
ble  yourself  about  finding  a  man  the  standard 
bearer  on  our  side,  who  is  not  thoroughly  com 
mitted  to  our  creed  on  all  points.  You  need  not 
fear  that  our  candidate  will  not  stand  firmly  and 
immovably  upon  the  Kansas  bill. 

You  need  not  have  any  fear  that  he  will  not 
take  issue  with  you  on  every  one  of  the  points 
which  you  tender — "No  more  slave  States,"  "the 


82  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

abolition  of  the  slave  trade  between  the  States," 
and  the  "abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia."  Upon  each  and  all  of  them  you  need 
have  no  fear  that  our  candidate  will  not  stand 
firmly,  immovably  and  unequivocally  upon  the 
Democratic  platform. 

Give  us  a  man  for  your  standard  bearer  who  is 
in  like  identified  with  your  side  of  each  of  these 
issues.  Do  not  take  a  man  uncommitted,  with  the 
hope  of  getting  votes  from  both  sides,  and  then 
cheating  somebody.  Why  point  to  the  deserters 
from  the  Democratic  ranks  who  have  become 
your  leaders,  as  evidence  that  you  are  Demo 
crats?  You  might  as  well  talk  of  the  Christianity 
of  Omer  Pasha  because  he  was  Christian  before 
he  apostatized  and  turned  Turk.  By  this  preten 
sion  you  confess  that  you  are  in  the  wrong.  You 
claim  as  a  merit  that  the  deserters  from  our 
ranks  to  yours  were  once  as  pure  and  patriotic  as 
we  now  are.  I  wish  to  understand  the  precise 
position.  Does  the  merit  consist  in  the  fact  that 
you  were  once  Democrats  or  does  it  consist  in  the 
fact  that  you  have  since  betrayed  your  party  and 
your  principles  ?  Is  it  the  Democracy  which  you 
once  had,  but  have  since  lost,  or  is  it  the  deser 
tion,  which  constitutes  your  high  claims  to  popu 
lar  favor  ?  It  seems  even  now,  that  you  are  more 
proud  of  what  you  once  were  than  what  you  are 
now. 

That  is  the  argument.  I  was  in  hopes  that  you 
had  faith  enough  in  the  justice  of  your  own 
cause  and  consciousness  of  its  strength  and  in 
herent  truth,  to  be  able  to  stand  upon  that,  and 
to  make  it  a  matter  of  pride  and  boast,  as  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  83 

Senator  from  New  York  did  the  other  day,  when 
he  said  he  was  an  Abolitionist.  The  Senator, 
however,  gave  us  an  illustration  which,  perhaps, 
may  be  satisfactory  to  him,  but  I  am  afraid  will 
not  be  entirely  so  to  all  the  members  of  his  party. 
He  reminded  us  that,  while  it  took  Christianity 
three  centuries  to  be  recognized  by  the  princes  of 
Europe,  and  while  he  argued  that  abolitionism 
was  as  certain  to  triumph  as  Christianity,  yet  this 
was  but  the  first  century  of  Abolitionism.  Allow 
me  to  tell  the  Senator  from  New  York  that  he 
disappointed  the  expectations  of  some  of  his  fol 
lowers  when  he  intimated  to  them  that  they  must 
wait  two  hundred  years  longer  before  they  tri 
umphed  and  got  possession  of  the  spoils  of  gov 
ernment.  (Laughter.)  If  the  Senator  is  aiming 
at  the  reputation  of  being  a  martyr  to  his  cause, 
I  think  he  is  adopting  the  proper  course;  and 
when  I  am  sure  it  is  only  at  the  honors  of  martyr 
dom  that  he  is  aiming,  I  shall  be  better  reconciled 
to  his  position. 

Although  I  have  no  ambition  to  be  considered 
a  martyr,  I  have  respect  for  those  who  cherish 
such  a  hope ;  and  I  wish  all  these  modern  martyrs 
to  remember  that  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of 
martyrdom,  that  no  man  shall  seek  his  reward  un 
til  two  hundred  years  after  his  death!  (Laugh 
ter.) 

In  that  sense  the  Senator  from  New  York  did 
not  object  to  be  called  an  Abolitionist.  He  was 
looking  to  the  honors  of  martyrdom  and  fancy 
ing  to  himself  how  much  he  should  enjoy  at  the 
time  when  they  should  be  thrown  upon  him ;  but 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  seems  to  claim 


84  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

that  they  are  to  reap  their  reward  now.  I  like 
that  mode  of  fighting  better.  Let  us  have  a  fair 
issue  now — an  issue  on  principles  and  on  men. 
.  .  .  Let  there  be  no  endeavor  to  cover  up  the 
main  issues  under  the  irregularities  which  may 
have  occurred  at  the  election  in  Kansas.  Let 
there  be  no  equivocation  upon  the  plea  of  dis 
turbances  of  a  temporary  character  that  may  have 
arisen  here  and  there ;  but  give  us  an  issue  on  the 
great  undying  principles  involved  in  the  contest — 
the  equality  of  the  States — the  right  of  self-gov 
ernment  everywhere  under  the  Constitution — the 
right  of  each  State  to  come  into  the  Union,  with 
slavery  or  without  it,  as  it  pleases — the  right  of 
the  citizens  of  each  State  holding  slaves  to  insist 
upon  the  return  of  fugitives,  in  obedience  to  the 
Constitution — the  right  of  every  man  to  enjoy 
every  privilege,  and  insist  upon  the  fullfilment  of 
every  obligation  conferred  or  imposed  by  the 
Constitution. 

Again,  let  us  have  no  equivocation  in  meeting 
the  issue,  whether  a  clause  in  the  constitution  of 
a  new  State,  directing  the  Legislature  to  pass  a 
particular  law,  is  to  be  called  a  constitutional  pro 
vision,  or  by  some  other  name.  The  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  tells  us  (following  the  lead 
of  the  Senator  from  New  York  the  other  day) 
that  he  is  opposed  to  that  clause  which  declares 
that  a  free  negro  shall  never  go  into  the  new 
State  of  Kansas.  He  does  not  deny  but  that 
there  was  a  provision  submitted  for  decision  at 
the  time  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted, 
whether  negroes  should  be  admitted  to  go  there 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  85 

or  not,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative  by  those 
who  voted  at  the  election.  He  does  not  deny, 
therefore,  but  that  clause  becomes  a  part  of  the 
constitution  of  Kansas  in  the  event  that  Kansas 
is  admitted  with  the  Topeka  constitution,  but  he 
says  that  clause  is  a  barbarous  provision,  and  he 
would  like  to  know  my  opinion  of  it.  I  gave  my 
opinion  the  other  day.  I  stated  that  Illinois  had 
a  similar  clause  in  her  constitution;  she  had  a 
right  to  put  it  there ;  it  was  our  business,  and  not 
yours;  and  if  Massachusetts  does  not  like  it  let 
her  do  as  she  pleases  within  her  own  limits,  so 
that  she  does  not  violate  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  We  do  not  believe  in  the  equality 
of  the  negro,  socially  or  politically  with  the  white 
man.  You  may  practise  it,  but  do  not  try  to  force 
the  negro  on  an  equality  with  us  in  our  State. 
Our  people  are  a  white  people;  our  State  is  a 
white  State ;  and  we  mean  to  preserve  the  white 
pure,  without  any  mixture  with  the  negro. 

If  you  wish  your  blood  and  that  of  the  African 
mingled  in  the  same  channel,  we  trust  that  you 
will  keep  at  a  respectable  distance  from  us,  and 
not  try  to  force  that  on  us  as  one  of  your  domes 
tic  institutions.  (Laughter  and  applause  in  the 
galleries.)  Now,  sir,  I  am  willing  that  the  peo 
ple  of  Kansas  shall  decide  that  question  for  them 
selves,  as  they  will  have  a  right  to  do  when  they 
form  their  constitution,  I  hold  that  it  is  their 
right  to  do  as  they  please,  so  that  they  do  not 
violate  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  come  into  the  Union  with  such  a  constitution 
as  they  please.  You  say  no.  You  say  it  is  your 


86  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

right  and  duty,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  to  inspect  the  constitution  of  Kan 
sas;  and  if  you  find  slavery  there,  or  any  other 
obnoxious  provision  which  creates  an  inequality 
between  the  negro  and  the  white  man,  you  will 
vote  to  exclude  such  State. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  87 


XII. 

DISSERTATIONS   ON   THE   SLAVE. 

The  affairs  of  Kansas,  when  stripped  of  all 
controversy  upon  constitutional  questions,  re 
vealed  in  bold  outline  the  one  great,  central  ob 
ject — the  slave. 

This  creature  was  held  up  to  inspection  from 
the  viewpoints  of  physiology,  psychology,  and 
theology,  by  a  senator  from  Iowa,  Mr.  Harlan, 
who  was  at  his  best  and  upon  familiar  ground; 
and  he  treated  the  subject  with  profound  doc 
trine  gathered  from  many  books,  which,  in  for 
mer  years,  had  stood  as  walls  around  him,  while 
he  sat  in  the  president's  chair  in  a  Methodist  in 
stitution  of  learning.  He  spoke  with  some 
warmth  as  follows : 

The  power  of  Congress  to  exclude  slavery 
from  all  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  not 
embraced  within  the  limits  of  any  State,  being 
established  or  conceded,  I  enquire,  secondly, 
whether  this  power  ought  to  be  exercised  in  the 
establishment  of  territorial  governments  where 
slavery  did  not  previously  exist?  In  the  discus 
sion  of  this  proposition,  I  desire  to  probe  the  sub 
ject  to  the  core.  I  prefer  to  brush  away  the  sur 
face  rubbish,  and  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
superstructure  on  the  solid  rock. 


88  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Is  slavery  right?  Is  it  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  natural  justice?  The  time  has  been 
when  very  few  in  the  country  defended  the  moral 
right  of  one  man  to  hold  another  in  perpetual 
bondage.  Its  continuance  hitherto  has  been  de 
fended  by  citing  the  difficulties  that  surrounded 
the  question  of  emancipation.  But  the  passage 
of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  law  has  wrought  a  sad 
change,  I  fear,  in  the  moral  tone  and  temper  of 
this  discussion.  Members  of  Congress  now  tell 
you  that  the  enslavement  of  the  African  race  by 
the  Anglo-Saxon  is  no  evil;  that  it  is  a  blessing; 
that  it  is  the  natural  condition  of  the  two  races; 
that  an  enlightened  philanthropy  requires  the  en 
slavement  of  the  African;  that  he  belongs  to  an 
inferior  race;  that  he  cannot  stand  the  shock  of 
contact  with  his  superiors;  that  annihilation  is 
the  only  alternative. 

As  the  African  is  presented  to  my  mind  by  the 
traveller  and  the  historian  and  by  personal  obser 
vation,  I  am  compelled  to  admit  the  inferiority; 
but  if  the  right  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  to  enslave 
him  depends  on  his  manifest  inferiority,  it  be 
comes  the  duty  of  every  Senator  to  examine 
closely  the  nature  of  that  inferiority.  Is  it  the 
result  of  the  enslavement  of  his  ancestry  for 
more  than  a  thousand  years ;  or  is  it  the  natural 
specific  difference  developed  in  an  analysis  of  the 
elementary  laws  of  matter  and  of  mind  ? 

In  laying  the  foundation  of  new  states,  this 
problem  is  worthy  of  the  careful  attention  of  the 
proudest  and  wisest  statesman  on  the  floor  of  the 
American  Senate ;  for  in  its  solution  he  legislates, 
by  its  influence,  for  the  whole  human  race — not 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  89 

only  for  the  thousand  millions  of  people  that  now 
live,  but  for  the  teeming  millions  as  they  shall 
continue  to  come  and  go  while  life  shall  last. 
That  each  may  arrive  at  a  correct  decision  of  the 
nature  of  the  admitted  inferiority  of  the  African 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon,  I  request  Senators  to  allow 
me  to  refer  them  to  their  early  elementary  read 
ing — to  a  succinct  view  of  this  subject,  derived 
from  standard  writers  on  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  science — from  such  works  as  are  used  in 
the  colleges,  academies,  and  seminaries  of  learn 
ing  all  over  the  country — such  works  as  are 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  student  of  law,  of 
medicine,  and  theology. 

Physiologists  tell  us  that  there  is  no  specific 
difference  in  the  physical  structure  of  the  two 
races,  that  the  solid  parts  of  their  bodies  are  con 
sisted  of  the  same  number  of  bones  and  joints, 
similarly  located  and  distributed ;  that  there  is  not 
a  muscle,  or  tendon,  or  ligament,  or  vein,  or 
artery,  or  secretion,  or  absorbent,  or  nerve  of 
motion,  or  volition,  found  in  the  organism  of  one 
that  does  not  exist  in  the  other;  that  each  pos 
sesses  the  same  senses  of  sight,  of  touch,  of 
taste,  of  smelling  and  of  hearing,  that  each  pos 
sesses  the  same  specific  means  of  mastication, 
digestion,  and  procreation.  There  are,  however, 
physical  differences.  The  skin  of  one  is  black — 
of  the  other  white ;  the  hair  of  one,  fine  and  knot 
ted — of  the  other,  coarse  and  straight,  the  lips  of 
one,  thick  and  protruding,  of  the  other,  thin  and 
compressed,  and  prespiratory  exhaltations  of  the 
one  are  said  to  be  more  odorous  than  of  the 
other.  But  these  are  all  said  to  be  superficial 


90  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

modifications  of  the  same  specific  faculties  and 
functions.  No  specific  organ  has  been  omitted 
or  added. 

We  are  told  by  writers  on  mental  science  that 
the  natural  sensibilities  are  aroused  in  both  by  the 
use  of  the  same  organs;  that  the  African  and 
Anglo-Saxon  alike  experience  pleasure  in  the 
mastication  of  food,  in  the  inhalations  of  frag 
rant  odors,  in  the  exercise  of  the  sense  of  touch, 
in  gazing  at  the  beauties  of  creation,  and  in 
listening  to  the  melody  and  harmony  of  sounds; 
that  the  same  sounds  and  colors,  and  motions, 
and  heights,  and  depths,  and  expanses,  and  mani 
festations  of  power,  that  elevates  the  feelings  of 
one  to  a  key  of  grandeur  or  sublimity,  overwhelm 
the  other  with  kindred  emotions.  They  tell  us 
that  in  each  they  find  the  same  specific  desires, 
instincts,  appetites  and  passion;  that  each  may 
love,  and  hope,  and  fear,  and  hate — may  be  en 
vious,  jealous,  and  revengeful;  that  in  each  they 
discover  the  faculty  of  perception,  of  conception, 
of  memory,  of  imagination,  of  belief,  and  of  will ; 
that  each  experience  paternal,  fraternal,  and 
filial  affection ;  that  each  experiences  emotions  of 
humanity,  of  patriotism,  and  of  piety. 

From  this  physical  and  mental  analysis,  it  will 
be  perceived  that  each  organ  may  be  weaker  in 
one  race  than  in  the  other;  but  that  in  other  re 
spects  they  do  not  materially  differ.  The  anat 
omy  of  one  is  the  anatomy  of  the  other;  the 
mental  science  that  describes  the  laws  of  mind 
of  the  one  delineates  the  spiritual  nature  of  the 
other;  the  moral  philosophy  that  analyzes  the 
moral  emotions  of  the  one,  reveals  the  moral  fac- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  91 

ulties  of  the  other.  All  the  laws  of  health  and 
culture  applicable  to  the  one  are  applicable  to  the 
other.  The  same  physician  that  prescribes  for 
the  African  slave  in  his  hovel,  on  a  bed  of  straw, 
prescribes  with  equal  success  for  his  master,  in  a 
stately  mansion,  on  a  couch  of  down.  The  same 
minister  of  righteousness  who  soothes  the  sor 
rows,  and  assuages  the  griefs,  and  energizes  the 
hopes  of  the  slave,  when  the  shadows  of  death 
hover  around  him,  administers,  with  equal  suc 
cess,  the  consolations  of  the  same  Gospel  to  the 
man  of  whiter  skin. 

The  manifest  inferiority  of  the  African  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  does  not  consist  in  a  generic  or 
specific  difference.  It  is  that  kind  of  inferiority 
which  doubtless  the  enlightened  statesman  would 
expect  to  find  among  the  descendants  of  those 
who  had  been  doomed  to  absolute  servitude  from 
time  immemorial.  His  body  is  less  symmetrical; 
his  face  less  beautiful;  his  appeties,  passions,  in 
stincts,  and  desires,  less  manageable;  his  percep 
tions  less  acute;  his  perceptions  less  clear;  his 
memory,  consciousness,  belief,  powers  of  reason 
ing  and  will,  more  feeble;  his  love  of  parents,  of 
offspring,  of  man,  of  country,  of  truth,  of  honor, 
of  justice,  of  God,  less  reliable.  But  is  any  one 
of  these  absent?  If  so,  what  element  of  manhood 
has  been  omitted?  None;  not  one!  "But  if  he 
is  inferior  to  the  white  man  in  this  sense" — if  his 
body  is  weak,  his  mind  feeble,  his  moral  sensibili 
ties  obtuse — does  that  confer  the  right  on  the 
man  of  strong  body — of  vigorous  intellect,  and 
of  acute  moral  sensibilities  to  seize,  overawe,  and 
enslave  him?  Is  it  might  that  determines  the 


92  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE! 

right?  Because  you  have  the  power,  may  you 
of  right  enslave  your  fellow  men?  Is  this  the 
voice  of  northern  gallantry  and  southern  chiv 
alry! 

It  might  do  for  Louis  Napoleon,  as  he  sits  on 
a  usurped  throne,  to  claim  the  right,  because  he 
has  the  power  to  control  the  destinies  of  other 
men.  It  might  do  for  Alexander,  the  Czar  of 
Russia,  as  he  sits  enthroned  where  the  old  Wiz 
ard  of  the  North  spirited  the  liberties  of  Europe, 
to  make  might  the  measure  of  right.  But  will  it 
do  for  the  American  Senate  to  indorse  and  de 
fend  this  doctrine  of  tyrants,  discarded  by  our 
fathers — to  place  this  country,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
civilized  nations,  on  the  platform  of  the  despots 
of  the  Old  World,  which  has  so  long  been  the 
object  of  our  ridicule  and  scorn?  If  not,  you 
must  return  to  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers  of  the 
Republic,  and  defend  the  weak  against  the 
aggressor  of  the  resolute  and  powerful.  It  will 
not  do  to  deny  the  privileges  of  freedom  to  all 
who  are  your  inferiors  in  physical,  mental  and 
moral  strength.  Adopt  this  doctrine,  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  must  proceed  to  enslave  the  world ; 
for  he  is  now,  doubtless,  the  strongest  race  on 
the  globe. 

This  treatment  of  the  subject  did  not  meet 
with  general  approbation,  and  his  colleague,  Mr. 
Jones,  replied  to  him  with  some  contrary  state 
ments. 

Mr.  President : — In  the  discussion  of  the  ques 
tion  of  the  equality  of  races,  which  my  colleague, 
I  believe,  has  been  the  first  to  introduce  to  the 
notice  of  the  Senate,  he  seems  to  have  volun- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  93 

teered  his  aid  to  our  political  Abolitionists  with 
an  alacrity  which  indicates  his  consciousness  of 
great  powers  to  defend  his  position.  Without  in 
quiring  into  the  propriety  or  necessity  of  the  dis 
cussion,  at  this  time  and  in  this  place,  I  shall  en 
deavor  to  show  that  there  are  established  facts 
which  prove  the  unsoundness  of  his  views;  but 
in  doing  so,  I  can  not  avoid  feeling  a  kind  of  em 
barrassment  produced  by  a  comparison,  unfavor 
able  to  myself,  of  the  profound  scientific,  theo 
logical,  and  legal  attainments  of  my  colleague, 
with  my  own  humble  pretensions.  It  is  known  to 
the  Senate  that  I  am  a  plain,  practical  man,  and 
have  passed  my  public  life  here  in  practical  legis 
lation,  entertaining  and  encouraging  no  doctrines 
nor  opinions  which  are  revolting  to  the  instincts 
of  honest  common  sense,  or  opposed  to  those  de 
ductions  which  are  drawn  from  the  truth  of  his 
tory.  I  must  then  oppose  this  common  sense  and 
those  deductions,  to  my  colleague's  scientific,  the 
ological  and  legal  researches. 

In  my  limited  historical  reading  I  have  failed 
to  find  any  fact  to  sustain  the  opinions  and  be 
lief  of  my  colleague,  that  the  negro  race  are  cre 
ated  equal  in  powers  of  mind  with  the  white. 
More  than  a  thousand  years  ago,  before  our  bar 
barian  ancestors  received  an  impulse  towards 
civilization  by  contact  with  the  Romans,  the  ne 
gro  of  Africa  had  had  the  advantage  of  observ 
ing  the  most  advanced  and  refined  nations  which 
then  existed.  He  saw  the  learning  and  genius  of 
Egypt,  the  refinement  of  Persia,  the  wisdom  and 
glory  of  Greece  and  of  Rome,  long  before  the 
barbarous  tribes  of  Britain,  our  ancestors 


94  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

emerged  from  their  darkness  by  aid  of  the  light 
which  was  held  up  to  them  by  the  new  born  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  For  a  time  extending 
further  back  than  is  noted  upon  the  historic  page, 
the  negro  has  beheld  the  light  of  civilization — 
but  he  has  not  followed  it ;  and  in  his  native  land, 
the  tribes  who  have  given  slaves  to  Europe,  and 
America,  are  now  what  they  have  ever  been.  It 
would  seem,  indeed,  that  these  tribes  are  the 
veritable  descendants  of  Ham,  cursed  in  his  son 
Canaan  by  the  Almighty,  driven  out  from  the 
presence  of  his  father  with  the  vengeance  of  God 
marked  upon  his  brow  and  doomed  to  be  the 
servant  of  servants  forever.  Mr.  President,  it  is 
a  truth  that  nature,  in  the  munificence  of  her 
economy,  withholds  nothing  from  her  children 
needful  to  their  welfare;  and  we  find  that  she 
has  not  bestowed  upon  the  negro  race  a  solitary 
historical  character — not  one.  That  race  have 
had  no  poet  to  perpetuate  their  history — they 
have  no  history.  The  Greek,  the  Roman,  the 
English,  and  many  other  nations,  whose  history 
can  be  traced  back  to  barbarism  and  idolatry, 
have  given  to  the  world  poets,  statesmen,  moral 
ists,  philosophers,  mechanics,  and  inventors, 
whose  labors  are  immortal.  The  black  tribes  of 
Africa  have  given  nothing  useful  nor  brilliant  to 
the  mental  mind — and  to  this  day  they  are  the 
same  stupid  idolaters  that  they  were  found  to  be 
when  first  visited  by  the  Christian  missionary; 
worshipping  leaks,  onions,  snakes,  and  filthy  in 
sects,  and  looking  upon  the  ourang-outang  as 
the  Jupiter  of  their  lesser  deities.  The  race  has 
no  history,  except  that  of  the  providence  of  God, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  95 

written  by  his  servants,  marking  it  out  as  the 
victim  upon  which  the  nations  of  the  earth  have 
alternately  glutted  their  revenge  and  satiated 
their  thirst  for  gain.  At  this  time  they  are  in  a 
state  of  deeper  degradation  than  any  of  the 
heathen  nations  of  the  earth.  Without  even  the 
instincts  of  decency,  they  wander  ungoverned, 
naked,  and  as  filthy  in  their  persons  as  the  brute. 

This  has  been,  as  is  now,  their  condition  in 
their  native  country;  and  all  efforts  of  Christian 
ity  for  their  benefit  and  enlightment  have  been 
abortive.  No  individuals  of  the  race  have  ad 
vanced  a  single  step  from  their  degradation  and 
darkness  except  those  who  were  placed  in  the 
condition  now  occupied  by  them  in  the  Southern 
States.  Here  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  elevating 
his  hopes  and  illuminating  his  soul.  Thus  much 
for  the  history  of  the  race  as  I  have  read  it. 

My  colleague  having  convinced  himself  of  the 
mental  equality  of  the  negro  and  white  man,  ap 
peals  to  the  obligations  of  Christianity  to  protect 
the  slave  in  his  weakness. 


96  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XIII. 

CHARLES  SUMNER !  ANTI-SLAVERY  LEADER. 

The  chief  aim  of  Henry  Wilson  was  the  over 
throw  of  slavery,  and  as  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  North,  he  waged  continual  war  upon  the  pro- 
slavery  power.  His  colleague,  Charles  Sumner, 
at  his  side,  fought  fearlessly,  unrelentingly. 
These  two  were  the  acknowledged  captains  of 
abolition. 

Classic  Charles  Sumner  would  have  been  far 
better  pleased  had  he  been  left  to  his  delightful 
studies,  instead  of  being  thrust  into  the  savage 
fight  in  the  United  States  Senate;  but  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  demanded  that  he,  with  his 
masterful  talents,  should  have  a  voice  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation. 

Born  at  Boston  (in  1811)  of  most  excellent 
family;  and  graduated  from  Harvard,  where  he 
entered  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  where  he  ex 
celled  in  the  classics  and  oratory,  he  was  a  splen 
did  representative  of  the  conservative  old  com 
monwealth. 

After  graduation,  he  had  pursued  the  study  of 
law,  and  then  to  complete  his  education  with 
higher  polish,  he  had  spent  some  time  in  France 
attending  lectures  by  the  most  noted  savants. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  97 

.  .*<  4 

In  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  at  a  public  meeting 
called  to  protest  against  the  Fugitive  Slave  bill 
of  1850,  he  delivered  an  oration  that  was  the 
most  glowing,  the  most  masterly,  he  had  ever 
made.  He  described  a  famous  painting  by  Tin 
toretto. 

"There  is  a  legend  of  the  Church  still  living 
on  the  admired  canvass  of  a  Venetian  artist,  that 
Saint  Mark,  descending  from  the  skies  with 
headlong  fury  into  the  public  square,  broke  the 
manacles  of  a  slave  in  the  very  presence  of  the 
judge  who  decreed  his  fate.  This  is  known  as 
the  Miracle  of  the  Slave/  and  grandly  has  art 
illumined  the  scene.  Should  Massachusetts  here 
after  in  an  evil  hour  be  desecrated  by  any  such 
decree,  may  the  good  Evangelist  once  more  de 
scend  with  valiant  arm  to  break  the  manacles  of 
the  slave." 

The  striking  grace  of  the  figure  won  the  pub 
lic  heart,  and  Mr.  Sumner  always  afterwards  re 
ferred  to  it  as  the  speech  that  made  him  senator. 
A  copy  of  this  painting  used  to  hang  upon  the 
wall  of  the  dining-room  in  his  Washington 
home. 

His  speeches  were  always  prepared  with  great 
care,  for  he  was  not  a  ready  debater.  While  he 
presented  his  side  of  an  argument  with  force,  he 
polished  and  repolished  every  sentence  before 
hand.  The  boldness  of  his  words  drew  forth 
much  applause.  One  afternoon  while  he  was 
making  one  of  his  sharp  attacks,  Mr.  Douglas 
walking  up  and  down  behind  the  Vice-President's 
desk,  remarked  to  a  friend:  "Do  you  hear  that 
man?  He  may  be  a  fool,  but  I  tell  you  that  man 


98  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

has  pluck.  I  wonder  whether  he  knows  himself 
what  he  is  doing?  I  am  not  sure  whether  I 
should  have  the  courage  to  say  those  things  to 
the  men  who  are  scowling  around  him." 

Slightly  over  six  feet  in  height,  with  broad 
figure  and  graceful  bearing,  Mr.  Sumner  was 
prepossessing  to  a  degree.  His  features,  like  his 
nature,  were  classical ;  he  wore  no  beard,  except 
ing  a  slight  growth  of  side-whiskers ;  and  his  hair 
grew  in  masses  over  a  handsome  forehead.  This 
graphic  sketch  of  the  man  must  suffice  here;  his 
distinguished  character  is  well  known  among 
American  readers. 

On  May  19  and  20,  1856,  after  the  debate  on 
the  Kansas  bill  had  been  opened,  he  delivered  his 
speech,  which  became  famous  as  "The  Crime 
Against  Kansas."  The  correspondent  of  the 
New  York  Evening  Post,  described  it  thus: 
"There  is  but  one  opinion  among  all  competent 
judges  as  to  the  unexampled  feast  of  eloquence 
which  has  been  enjoyed  in  the  Senate  for  the  past 
two  days,  from  the  lips  of  Senator  Sumner.  .  .  . 
He  has  exhibited  the  most  signal  combination  of 
oratorical  splendors,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  a 
veteran  senator,  has  ever  been  witnessed  in  that 
Hall.  .  .  .  Not  only  were  the  galleries  thronged 
to  their  utmost  capacities  with  ladies  and  gentle 
men,  but  all  the  doorways  blocked  up  with  listen 
ers  who  hung  in  breathless  suspense  upon  his 
eloquence."  .  .  . 

The  speech,  in  part: 

Mr.  President: — You  are  now  called  to  re 
dress  a  great  wrong.  Seldom  in  the  history  of 
nations  is  such  a  question  presented.  .  .  . 


SU  MM  E.R 


•)».'€)' 


rij 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  99 

Yes,  sir,  when  the  whole  world,  alike  Christian 
and  Turk,  is  rising  to  condemn  this  wrong, 
making  it  a  hissing  to  the  nations,  here  in  our  Re 
public,  force — ay,  sir,  force — is  openly  employed 
in  compelling  Kansas  to  this  pollution,  and  all  for 
the  sake  of  political  power.  There  is  the  simple 
fact,  which  you  will  vainly  attempt  to  deny,  but 
which  in  itself  presents  an  essential  wickedness 
that  makes  other  public  crimes  seem  like  public 
virtues. 

In  opening  this  great  matter,  I  am  not  in 
sensible  to  the  austere  demands  of  the  occasion; 
but  \e  dependence  of  the  crimes  against  Kan 
sas  upon  the  slave  power  is  so  peculiar  and  im 
portant  that  I  trust  to  be  pardoned  while  I  im 
press  it  by  an  illustration  which  to  some  may 
seem  trivial.  It  is  related  in  northern  mythology, 
that  the  God  of  Force,  visiting  an  enchanted  re 
gion,  was  challenged  by  his  royal  entertainer  to 
what  seemed  a  humble  feat  of  strength — merely 
— Sir,  to  lift  a  cat  from  the  ground.  The  God 
smiled  at  the  challenge  and  calmly  placing  his 
hand  under  the  belly  of  the  animal  with  superhu 
man  strength  strove,  while  the  back  of  the  feline 
monster  arched  far  upwards  even  beyond  reach, 
and  one  paw  actually  forsook  the  earth,  when  at 
last  the  discomfitted  divinity  desisted ;  but  he  was 
little  surprised  at  his  defeat,  when  he  learned  that 
this  creature,  which  seemed  to  be  a  cat,  was  not 
merely  a  cat,  but  that  it  belonged  to,  and  was  a 
part  of  the  great  Terrestrial  Serpent  which  in  its 
innumerable  folds  encircled  the  whole  globe. 
Even  so  the  creature  whose  paws  are  now 
fastened  upon  Kansas,  whatever  it  may  seem  to 


loo  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

be,  constitutes  in  reality  part  of  the  slave  power, 
with  it  loathsome  folds  now  coiled  about  the 
whole  land.  Thus  do  I  exhibit  the  extent  of  the 
whole  contest,  where  we  encounter  not  merely 
local  resistance,  but  alas  the  unconquered  sus 
taining  arm  behind.  But  from  the  vastness  of 
the  crime  attempted,  with  all  its  woe  and  shame, 
I  derive  well-founded  assurance  of  commen 
surate  effort  by  the  aroused  masses  of  the  coun 
try,  determined  not  only  to  vindicate  right  against 
wrong,  but  to  redeem  the  Republic  from  the 
thraldom  of  that  oligarchy  which  prompts,  di 
rects,  and  concentrates  the  distant  wrong. 

Such  is  the  crime  and  such  the  criminal  which 
it  is  my  duty  to  expose;  and,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  this  duty  shall  be  done  completely  to  the 
end.  But  this  will  not  be  enough.  The  apolo- 

fies  which,  with  strange  hardihood,  are  offered 
Dr  the  crime  must  be  torn  away,  so  that  it  shall 
stand  forth  without  a  single  rag  or  a  fig-leaf  to 
cover  its  vileness.  And,  finally  the  true  remedy 
must  be  shown.  The  subject  is  complex  in  rela 
tions,  as  it  is  transcendent  in  importance;  and 
yet,  if  I  am  honored  by  your  attention  I  hope  to 
present  it  clearly  in  all  its  parts,  while  I  conduct 
you  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  Kansas  must 
be  admitted  at  once,  with  her  present  constitu 
tion,  as  a  state  of  this  Union,  and  give  a  new 
star  to  the  blue  field  of  our  National  Flag.  And 
here  I  derive  satisfaction  from  the  thought,  that 
the  cause  is  so  strong  in  itself  as  to  bear  even 
the  infirmities  of  its  advocates ;  nor  can  it  require 
anything  beyond  that  simplicity  of  treatment  and 
moderation  of  manner  which  I  desire  to  cultivate. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  101 

Its  true  character  is  such  that,  like  Her 
cules,  it  will  conquer  just  so  soon  as  it  is  recog 
nized. 

My  task  will  be  divided  under  three  different 
heads:  first,  The  Crime  Against  Kansas,  in  its 
origin  and  extent;  secondly,  The  Apologies  for 
the  Crime ;  and  thirdly,  The  True  Remedy. 

Before  entering  upon  the  argument,  I  must  say 
something  of  a  general  character,  particularly  in 
response  to  what  has  fallen  from  senators  who 
have  raised  themselves  to  eminence  on  this  floor 
in  championship  of  human  wrong:  I  mean  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Butler)  and 
the  Senator  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Douglas),  who, 
though  unlike  as  Don  Quixote  and  Sancho 
Panza,  yet,  like  this  couple,  sally  forth  together 
in  the  same  adventure.  I  regret  much  to  miss  the 
elder  Senator  from  his  seat ;  but  the  cause  against 
which  he  has  run  a  tilt,  with  such  ebbulition  of 
animosity,  demands  that  the  opportunity  of  ex 
posing  him  should  not  be  lost;  and  it  is  for  the 
cause  that  I  speak.  The  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  has  read  many  books  of  chivalry,  and 
believes  himself  a  chivalrous  knight,  with  senti 
ments  of  honor  and  courage.  Of  course  he  has 
chosen  a  mistress  to  whom  he  has  made  his  vows, 
and  who,  though  ugly  to  others,  is  always  lovely 
to  him, — though  polluted  in  the  sight  of  the 
world,  is  chaste  in  his  sight:  I  mean  the  harlot 
slavery.  For  her  his  tongue  is  always  profuse  in 
words.  Let  her  be  impeached  in  character,  or 
any  proposition  be  made  to  shut  her  out  from 
the  extension  of  her  wantonness,  and  no  extrava 
gance  of  manner  or  hardihood  of  assertion  is 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

then  too  great  for  this  senator.  The  frenzy  of 
Don  Quixote  in  behalf  of  his  wench  Dulcinea  del 
Toboso  is  all  surpassed. 

The  asserted  rights  of  slavery,  which  shock 
equality  of  all  kinds,  are  cloaked  by  a  fantastic 
claim  of  equality.  If  the  slave  States  cannot  en 
joy  what,  in  mockery  of  the  great  fathers  of  the 
Republic,  he  misnames  equality  under  the  Con 
stitution — in  other  words,  the  full  power  in  the 
National  Territories  to  compel  fellow-men  to  un 
paid  toil,  to  separate  husband  and  wife,  and  to 
sell  little  children  at  the  auction-block — then,  sir, 
the  chivalric  Senator  will  conduct  the  State  of 
South  Carolina  out  of  the  Union!  Heroic 
knight!  Exalted  Senator!  A  second  Moses  come 
for  a  second  exodus !  ...  The  Senator  dreams 
that  he  can  subdue  the  North.  He  disclaims  the 
open  threat,  but  his  conduct  implies  it.  How  lit 
tle  that  Senator  knows  himself  or  the  strength 
of  the  cause  which  he  persecutes !  He  is  but  mor 
tal  man ;  against  him  is  immortal  principle.  With 
finite  power  he  wrestles  with  the  infinite,  and  he 
must  fall.  Against  him  are  stronger  battalions 
than  any  marshalled  by  mortal  arm, — the  inborn, 
ineradicable,  invincible  sentiments  of  the  human 
heart;  against  him  is  Nature  with  all  her  subtle 
forces ;  against  him  is  God.  Let  him  try  to  sub 
due  these. 

Passing  from  things  which,  though  touching 
the  very  heart  of  the  discussion,  are  yet  prelim 
inary,  I  press  at  once  to  the  main  point. 

The  men  who  strive  to  bring  back  the  Govern 
ment  to  its  original  policy,  when  Freedom  and 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  103 

not  Slavery  was  national,  while  Slavery  and  not 
Freedom  was  sectional,  he  arraigns  as  sectional. 
This  will  not  do.  It  involves  too  great  a  perver 
sion  of  terms.  I  tell  that  Senator  that  it  is  to 
himself,  and  to  the  'organization'  of  which  he  is 
the  'committed  advocate/  that  this  epithet  be 
longs.  I  now  fasten  it  upon  them.  For  myself  I 
care  little  for  names;  but,  since  the  question  is 
raised  here,  I  affirm  that  the  Republican  party  of 
the  Union  is  in  no  just  sense  sectional,  but,  more 
than  any  other  party  national, — and  it  goes  forth 
to  dislodge  from  the  high  places  that  tyrannical 
sectionalism  of  which  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  is  one  of  the  maddest  zealots. 


In  closing  the  exposition  of  the  crime,  he  said : 
Slavery  stands  erect,  clanking  its  chains  on 
the  Territory  of  Kansas,  surrounded  by  a  code 
of  death,  and  trampling  upon  all  cherished  liber 
ties,  whether  of  speech,  the  press,  the  bar,  the 
trial  by  jury,  or  the  electoral  franchise.  And,  sir, 
all  this  is  done,  not  merely  to  introduce  a  wrong 
which  in  itself  is  a  denial  of  all  rights,  and  in 
dread  of  which  mothers  have  taken  the  lives  of 
their  offspring — not  merely,  as  is  sometimes  said, 
to  protect  slavery  in  Missouri,  since  it  is  futile 
for  this  State  to  complain  of  Freedom  on  the  side 
of  Kansas,  when  Freedom  exists  without  com 
plaint  on  the  side  of  Iowa,  and  also  on  the  side  of 
Illinois — but  it  is  done  for  the  sake  of  political 
power,  in  order  to  bring  two  new  slaveholding 
Senators  upon  this  floor,  and  thus  to  fortify  in 
the  National  Government  the  desperate  chances 


104          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

of  a  wrong  oligarchy.  As  the  gallant  ship  voy 
aging  on  pleasant  summer  seas,  is  assailed  by  a 
pirate  crew,  and  plundered  of  its  doubloons  and 
dollars,  so  is  this  beautiful  Territory  now  as 
sailed  in  peace  and  prosperity,  and  robbed  of  its 
political  power  for  the  sake  of  slavery.  Even 
now  the  black  flag  of  the  land  pirates  of  Mis 
souri  waves  at  the  mast-head;  in  their  laws  you 
hear  the  pirate  yell  and  see  the  flash  of  the  pirate 
knife;  while  incredible  to  relate,  the  President, 
gathering  the  slave  power  at  his  back,  testifies  a 
pirate  sympathy. 

"Emerging  from  all  the  blackness  of  this 
crime,  where  we  seem  to  have  been  lost,  as  in  a 
savage  wood,  and  turning  our  backs  upon  it,  as 
upon  desolation  and  death,  from  which,  while 
others  have  suffered,  we  have  escaped,  I  come 
now  to  the  apologies  which  the  crime  has  found. 
Sir,  well  may  you  start  at  the  suggestion,  that 
such  a  series  of  wrongs,  so  clearly  proved  by 
various  testimony,  so  openly  confessed  by  the 
wrong-doers,  and  so  widely  recognized  through 
out  the  country,  should  find  apologists.  But  par 
tisan  spirit,  now,  as  in  other  days,  hesitates  at 
nothing.  Great  crimes  of  history  have  never 
been  without  apologies  The  massacre  of  St.  Bar 
tholomew,  which  you  now  instinctively  condemn, 
was  at  the  time  applauded  in  high  quarters. 

As  it  concerns  the  events  that  followed 
the  speech,  another  passage  referring  to  Senator 
Butler,  is  quoted : 

*"  "    With  regret  I  come  again  upon  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Butler),  who  omni- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  log 

present  in  this  debate,  overflowed  with  rage  at 
the  simple  suggestion  that  Kansas  had  applied 
for  admission  as  a  State;  and  with  incoherent 
phrases,  discharged  the  loose  expectoration  of  his 
speech  now  upon  her  representative  and  then 
upon  her  people.  There  was  no  extravagance  of 
tne  ancient  Parliamentary  debate  which  he  did 
not  repeat;  nor  was  there  any  possible  deviation 
from  truth  which  he  did  not  make  with  so  much 
of  passion,  I  am  glad  to  add  as  to  save  him  from 
the  suspicion  of  intentional  aberration.  But  the 
Senator  touches  nothing  which  he  does  not  disfig 
ure — with  error  sometimes  of  principle,  some 
times  of  fact.  He  shows  an  incapacity  of  accur 
acy,  whether  in  stating  the  Constitution  or  in 
stating  the  law,  whether  in  the  details  of  statistics 
or  the  deversion  of  scholarship.  He  cannot  ope 
his  mouth,,  but  out  there  flies  a  blunder, 

Were  the  whole  history  of  South  Carolina 
blotted  out  of  existence,  from  its  very  beginning 
down  to  the  day  of  the  last  election  of  the  Sen 
ator  to  his  present  seat  on  this  floor,  civilization 
would  lose — I  do  not  say  how  little,  but  surely  less 
than  it  has  already  gained  by  the  example  of  Kan 
sas  in  that  valiant  struggle  against  oppression,  and 
in  the  development  of  a  new  science  of  emigration, 
.  .  .  Throughout  this  infant  Territory  there 
is  more  of  educated  talent,  in  proportion  to  its 
inhabitants,  than  in  his  vaunted  State.  Ah,  sir, 
I  tell  the  Senator,  that  Kansas,  welcomed  as  a 
Free  state,  'a  ministering  angel  shall  be  to  the  Re 
public,  when  South  Carolina,  in  the  cloak  of  dark 
ness  which  she  hugs,  'lies  howling/  ...  In 
the  name  of  the  Constitution  outraged,  of  the 


106  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Laws  trampled  down,  of  Justice  banished,  of  Hu 
manity  degraded,  of  Peace  destroyed,  of  Free 
dom  crushed  to  earth — and  in  the  name  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  whose  service  is  per  fact  Free 
dom,  I  make  this  last  appeal. 

Whittier,  the  revered  poet,  among  others, 
wrote  to  Mr.  Sumner  congratulating  him.  His 
letter  ran  thus — 

I  have  read  and  re-read  thy  speech,  and 
I  look  upon  it  as  thy  best.  A  grand  and  ter 
rible  philippic,  worthy  of  the  great  oc 
casion;  the  severe  and  awful  truth  which 
the  sharp  agony  of  the  crisis  demand 
ed.  It  is  enough  for  immortality.  So  far 
as  thy  own  reputation  is  concerned,  nothing 
more  is  needed.  But  this  is  of  small  impor 
tance.  We  cannot  see  as  yet  the  entire 
results  of  that  speech,  but  everything  now 
indicates  that  it  has  saved  the  country. 

One  answer  to  these  attacks  was  made  by  the 
"Little  Giant,"  who  arose  to  the  occasion  well 
equipped,  more  though  with  derision  than  with 
choler. 

Mr.  Douglas:  I  shall  not  detain  the  Senate 
by  a  detailed  reply  to  the  speech  of  the  Senator 
from  Massachusetts.  Indeed,  I  should  not  deem 
it  necessary  to  say  one,  but  for  the  personalities 
in  which  he  has  indulged,  evincing  a  depth  of 
malignity  that  issued  from  every  sentence,  mak 
ing  it  a  matter  of  self  respect  with  me  to  repel 
the  assaults  which  have  been  made.  As  to  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  107 

argument,  we  have  heard  it  all  before.  Not  a 
position,  not  a  fact,  not  an  argument  has  he  used, 
which  has  not  been  employed  on  the  same  side 
of  the  Chamber  this  year,  and  replied  to  by  me 
twice.  I  shall  not  follow  him,  therefore,  because 
it  would  only  be  repeating  the  same  answer  which 
I  have  twice  before  given  each  of  his  positions. 
He  seems  to  get  up  a  speech,  as  in  Yankee  land 
they  get  up  a  bed  quilt.  They  take  all  the  old 
calico  dresses  of  various  colors,  that  have  been 
in  the  house  from  the  days  of  their  grandmothers, 
and  invite  the  young  ladies  of  the  neighborhood 
in  the  afternoon  and  the  young  men  to  meet 
them  at  a  dance  in  the  evening.  They  cut  up 
these  pieces  of  old  dresses  and  make  pretty  fig 
ures,  and  boast  of  what  beautiful  ornamental 
work  they  have  made,  although  there  was  not  a 
new  piece  of  new  material  in  the  whole  quilt. 
(Laughter.)  Thus  it  is  with  the  speech  which 
we  have  had  rehearsed  here  to-day  in  regard  to 
matters  of  fact,  matters  of  law,  and  matters  of 
argument — everything  but  the  personal  assaults 
and  malignity.  I  beg  pardon ;  there  is  another 
point.  We  have  had  another  dish  of  the  classics 
served  up — classic  allusions,  each  one  only  dis 
tinguished  for  its  lasciviousness  and  obscenity — 
each  are  drawn  from  those  portions  of  the 
classics  which  all  decent  professors  in  respect 
able  colleges  cause  to  be  suppressed,  as  unfit  for 
decent  young  men  to  read.  Sir,  I  cannot  repeat 
those  obscene  vulgar  terms  which  have  been 
used  at  least  a  hundred  times  in  that  speech.  It 
seems  that  his  studies  of  classics  have  all  been  in 


io8  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

those  haunts  where  ladies  cannot  go,  where  gen 
tlemen  never  read  Latin.  (Laughter.)  I  have 
no  disposition  to  follow  him  in  that  part  of  his 
speech. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  109 


XIV. 

ASSAULT  ON   SUMNER. 

Three  days  later,  on  May  23,  Mr.  Surnner  sat 
at  his  desk  shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Senate,  busy  with  some  correspondence.  As  I 
recollect  the  incident,  Representative  Preston 
Brooks,  who  was  the  nephew  of  Senator  Butler, 
came  into  the  chamber  by  the  front  entrance  and 
immediately  went  to  Mr.  Sumner's  seat,  which 
was  one  or  two  to  the  left,  in  the  back  row.  No 
attention  was  paid  to  Mr.  Brooks,  I  am  sure,  as 
visitors  from  the  House  came  in  frequently  and 
roved  about  on  the  Senate  floor;  but  in  a  few 
minutes  loud  talking  was  heard,  and  Mr.  Sumner 
was  seen  to  rise,  while  Mr.  Brooks  struck  him 
over  the  head  with  a  cane,  the  cane  breaking  into 
pieces.  The  Senator  attempted  to  shield  himself 
with  his  hands,  but  directly  uttered  a  cry  of  dis 
tress,  which  brought  several  persons  to  his  rescue. 
Mr.  Sumner  laid  apparently  senseless  on  the 
floor.  In  attempting  to  rise,  the  desk  was 
wrenched  from  its  fastenings.  The  greatest 
excitement  followed,  and  all  business  was  for 
some  days  practically  suspended. 

Mr.  Wilson,  provoked  almost  beyond  utterance, 


no  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

called  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  brutal 
assault  upon  his  colleague,  in  these  words : 

Mr.  President.  The  seat  of  my  colleague  is 
vacant  to-day.  The  seat  is  vacant  to-day  for  the 
first  time  during  five  years  of  public  service. 
Yesterday  after  a  touching  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  a  deceased  member  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  the  Senate  adjourned.  My  colleague  re 
mained  in  his  seat  busily  engaged  in  his  public 
duties.  While  thus  engaged,  with  pen  in  hand, 
and  in  a  position  which  rendered  him  utterly  in 
capable  of  protecting  or  defending  himself,  Mr. 
Preston  S.  Brooks,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  approached  his  desk  unobserved, 
and  abruptly  addressed  him.  Before  he  had  time 
to  utter  a  single  word  in  reply,  he  received  a 
stunning  blow  upon  the  head  from  a  cane  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Brooks,  which  made  him  blind  and 
almost  unconscious.  Endeavoring,  however,  to 
protect  himself,  in  rising  from  his  chair  his  desk 
was  overthrown,  and  while  in  that  condition,  he 
was  beaten  upon  the  head  by  repeated  blows,  until 
he  sank  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate  exhausted, 
unconscious,  and  covered  with  his  own  blood. 
He  was  taken  from  this  chamber  to  the  ante 
room,  his  wounds  were  dressed,  and  then  by 
friends  he  was  carried  to  his  home  and  placed 
upon  his  bed.  He  is  unable  to  be  with  us  to-day 
to  perform  the  duties  that  belong  to  him  as  a 
member  of  this  body./  Sir,  to  assail  a  member  of 
the  Senate,  out  of  this  chamber,  for  words  spoken 
in  debate  is  a  grave  offence,  not  only  against  the 
rights  of  the  Senator,  but  the  Constitutional  priv 
ileges  of  this  House;  but,  sir,  to  come  into  this 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  in 

chamber  and  assault  a  member  in  his  seat  until 
he  falls  exhausted  and  senseless  on  this  floor,  is 
an  offence  requiring  the  prompt  and  decisive  ac 
tion  of  the  Senate.  Senators,  I  have  called  your 
attention  to  this  transaction.  I  submit  no  motion, 
I  leave  it  to  the  older  Senators,  whose  character 
— whose  position  in  this  body,  and  before  the 
country,  eminently  fit  them  for  the  task  of  devis 
ing  measures  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  a  member 
of  this  body,  and  to  vindicate  the  honor  and  dig 
nity  of  the  Senate." 

On  motion  of  Senator  Seward,  of  New  York, 
the  following  resolution,  after  being  amended, 
was  passed  as  follows : 

"Resolved.  That  a  committee  of  five  be  elected 
by  the  Senate  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances  at 
tending  the  assault  on  the  person  of  the  Hon. 
Charles  Sumner,  a  member  of  the  Senate,  in  the 
Senate  chamber  yesterday ;  and  that  said  commit 
tee  be  instructed  to  report  a  statement  of  the 
facts,  together  with  their  opinion  thereon  to  the 
Senate." 

The  Baltimore  Sun,  of  May  27,  published  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Sumner  in  the  investigation  of 
the  assault,  which  implicated  certain  Senators, 
who  immediately  upon  seeing  it  in  print,  took 
occasion  to  publicly  deny  what  Mr.  Sumner  had 
said. 

Mr.  Slidell.  (La.)  If  the  Senate  will  indulge 
me  for  a  moment,  I  wish  to  make  a  personal 
explanation.  I  find  in  the  Baltimore  Sun  of 
this  morning,  a  statement  which  purports  to  have 
been  the  testimony  given  by  Mr.  Sumner  before 
a  committee  of  investigators  of  the  House  of 


H2  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Representatives,  and  which  contains  some 
matters  that  concern  me.  I  am  not  dis 
posed  to  attribute  what  Mr.  Sumner  has 
said  to  any  deliberate  intention  to  create  a 
false  impression  in  the  public  mind,  but  such 
must  be  the  inference  from  the  passage  in  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Sumner,  to  which  I  now  beg 
leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate;  and  I 
will  simply  explain  my  own  position  in  the  mat 
ter,  without  making  any  comments  on  Mr.  Sum- 
ner's  course.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  read 
the  introductory  part  of  this  testimony.  Mr. 
Sumner  says,  speaking  of  having  received  blows 
from  Mr.  Brooks: 

Other  persons  were  about  me,  offering  friendly 
assistance;  but  I  did  not  recognize  any  of  them, 
others  were  at  a  distance,  looking  on,  and  offer 
ing  no  assistance,  of  whom  I  recognized  only  Mr. 
Douglas,  of  Illinois;  Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia, 
and  I  thought  also  my  assailant  standing  between 
them.  I  was  helped  from  the  floor,  and  con 
ducted  into  the  lobby  of  the  Senate  where  I  was 
placed  upon  a  sofa.  Of  those  who  helped  me 
there  I  have  no  recollection. 

As  I  entered  the  lobby  I  recognized  Mr.  Slid- 
ell,  of  Louisiana,  who  retreated ;  but  I  recognized 
no  one  else  until  I  felt  a  friendly  grasp  of  the 
hand  which  seemed  to  come  from  Mr.  Campbell, 
of  Ohio  (H.R.). 

The  two  other  Senators  who  are  mentioned  in 
the  same  connection  can  explain  their  own  posi 
tions.  As  regards,  however,  my  friend  from 
Illinois,  I  am  enabled  to  speak,  while  defending 
myself  from  the  imputation  conveyed  by  this 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  113 

statement,  I  am  enabled  to  speak  with  great  cer 
tainty  of  his  position  in  the  matter. 

The  Senate  will  recollect  that  we  adjourned  at 
an  early  hour  on  that  day.  I  went  into  the  ante 
room  where  I  found  my  friend  from  Illinois  (Mr. 
Douglas),  Governor  Fitzpatrick,  of  Alabama, 
and  Mr.  J.  Glancy  Jones,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  con 
versation.  They  were  seated.  I  approached 
them  and  asked  them  if  they  were  engaged  in 
any  particular  or  private  conversation.  On  re 
ceiving  a  negative  response,  I  sat  down  and  joined 
them  in  conversation.  We  had  been  there  some 
minutes — I  think  we  were  alone  in  the  ante-room 
— when  a  person  (if  I  recollect  aright,  it  was  Mr. 
Jones,  a  messenger  of  the  Senate)  rushed  in  ap 
parently  in  great  trepidation,  and  said  that  some 
body  was  beating  Mr.  Sumner.  We  heard  this 
remark  without  any  emotion ;  for  my  own  part  I 
confess  I  felt  none.  I  am  not  disposed  to  partici 
pate  in  broils  of  any  kind.  I  remained  very  quiet 
ly  in  my  seat ;  the  above  gentlemen  did  the  same ; 
we  did  not  move.  A  minute  or  two  afterwards 
another  person  passed  through  the  Chamber  and 
said  that  Mr.  Sumner  had  been  very  badly  beaten. 
Hearing  that  the  atfray  was  over,  and 
hearing  that  Mr.  Brooks  was  concerned  in  the 
matter,  I  felt  a  little  more  interest  for  I  had 
really  supposed  that  it  was  some  ordinary  scuf 
fle.  I  did  not  know  from  what  cause  it  originated 
and  was  not  disposed  to  meddle  in  it.  I  then 
came  into  the  Senate  Chamber,  passing  through 
the  side  door  at  the  back  of  my  seat.  I  found, 
I  think,  at  least  sixty  or  seventy  people  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate  Chamber — perhaps  more.  A 


H4  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

crowd  surrounded  the  second  chair  on  the  other 
side  of  the  lobby,  and  I  was  told  that  Mr.  Sum- 
ner  was  there  extended  in  a  state  of  insensibility, 
prostrate  on  the  floor.  ...  I  was  ap 
proaching  the  door  of  the  reception  room  with  a 
view  of  passing  out  and  going  home,  having  no 
longer  any  inducement  to  remain  in  the  Senate, 
when  I  met  Mr.  Sumner  in  the  doorway  of  the 
reception  room,  leaning  on  two  persons  whom  I 
did  not  recognize.  His  face  was  covered  with 
blood.  I  am  not  particularly  fond  of  scenes  of 
any  sort.  I  have  no  association  or  relations  of 
any  kind  with  Mr.  Sumner;  I  have  not  spoken 
to  him  for  two  years.  I  did  not  think  it  neces 
sary  to  express  my  sympathy  or  make  any  ad 
vances  toward  him.  If  I  had  continued  I  should 
have  crossed  his  path,  and  interrupted  his  pro 
gress  to  a  sofa;  he  was  evidently  faint  and  weak. 
I  very  naturally  turned  in  another  direction ;  and, 
instead  of  passing  through  the  ante-room,  entered 
the  Senate  Chamber  in  this  direction  (through 
the  side  door).  I  have  stated  very  briefly  my 
connection  with  this  matter." 

Mr.  Douglas:  Mr.  President,  I  deem  it  my 
duty  to  submit  a  statement.  A  moment  or  two 
before  the  Senate  adjourned  on  that  day,  my  col 
league  in  the  other  House,  Colonel  Richardson, 
sent  for  me  to  hold  a  conversation  in  the  recep 
tion  room.  He  came  to  the  door  of  the  Senate 
Chamber,  and  I  went  to  the  reception  room,  and 
sat  a  considerable  time  with  him.  ...  As 
Colonel  Richardson  arose  to  leave,  I  started  to  go 
with  him,  when  Governor  Fitzpatrick,  of  Ala 
bama,  and  Mr.  J.  Glancy  Jones,  of  Pennsylvania, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  115 

who  were  sitting  on  a  settee  at  the  other  end  of  the 
reception  room,  called  me  to  them.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Slidell  came  in,  as  he  states,  and  while  we 
were  talking  there,  one  of  the  messengers  rushed 
through,  and  remarked  as  he  passed,  that  some 
body  was  beating  Mr.  Sunnier.  I  arose  involun 
tarily  to  rny  feet.  My  first  impression  was  to 
come  into  the  Senate  Chamber  and  help  to  put 
an  end  to  the  affray,  if  I  could;  but  it  occurred 
to  my  mind  in  an  instant,  that  my  relations  with 
Mr.  Sumner  were  such  that  if  I  came  into  the 
hall,  my  motives  would  be  misconstrued,  perhaps, 
and  I  sat  down  again.  ...  I  remember 
seeing  Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  sitting  about 
where  he  now  sits;  Mr.  Pearce,  of  Maryland, 
about  where  he  now  sits;  Mr.  Crittenden,  of 
Kentucky,  near  the  same  place ;  and  Judge  Evans, 
of  South  Carolina,  very  near  where  he  is  now 
sitting.  They  were  all  seated,  all  quiet,  and  I 
looked  to  see  where  the  parties  were  who  had 
been  engaged  in  this  affray.  At  last  I  observed 
Mr.  Sumner  at  the  side  of  the  center  aisle, 
his  feet  in  the  aisle,  and  he  leaning  partially 
against  a  chair.  I  had  only  a  glance.  I 
stayed  there  but  a  moment.  ...  I  left 
the  Senate  at  the  other  end  of  the  Cham 
ber.  How  the  idea  got  into  Mr.  Sumner's  brain 
that  I  was  on  one  side,  and  the  Senator  from 
Georgia  on  the  other,  with  the  assailant  between 
us,  is,  of  course,  impossible  for  me  to  conceive. 
It  is  evident  from  that  language  that  the  purpose 
• — or,  at  least,  certainly  the  effect  is,  to  carry  the 
impression  to  the  country,  that  I  was  privy,  to 
his  transaction;  that  I  was  standing,  aiding  and 


n6  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

abetting  the  assailant  in  it;  that  I  was,  in  fact,  a 
participant.     .     .     . 

Mr.  Toombs:  Mr.  President,  I  should  not 
deem  it  at  all  necessary  to  make  any  statement 
about  this  affair,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned;  but 
the  position  of  the  two  gentlemen  who  are  alluded 
to  in  this  connection,  may  make  it  necessary  for 
them.  I  was  present,  and  have  given  a  state 
ment  in  another  place,  as  a  witness.  .  .  . 
As  to  what  Mr.  Sumner  says  about  Mr.  Brooks' 
standing  between  myself  and  the  Senator  from 
Illinois,  there  is  not  a  word  of  fact  in  it.  I  pre 
sume  he  was  mistaken.  ...  As  for  ren 
dering  Mr.  Sumner  any  assistance,  I  did  not  do 
it.  As  to  what  was  said,  some  gentlemen  con 
demned  it  in  Mr.  Brooks;  I  stated  to  him,  or  to 
some  of  my  own  friends,  probably,  that  I  ap 
proved  it. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  117 


XV. 

MR.  BUTLER'S  DEFENSE;  AND    ORATION  ON  HIS 
DEATH. 

A  liberal  mind  and  noble  impulse  were  the 
gracious  attributes  of  that  kind  old  gentleman, 
Mr.  Butler,  who  for  many  years  so  sufficiently 
stood  guardian  over  his  State's  interests  in  the 
upper  branch  of  Congress,  and  won  credit  to  the 
South  and  to  himself  by  a  judicious  and  manly 
course  in  all  public  transactions  wherein  his  ample 
knowledge  had  served  the  nation. 

The  bitter  and  unrelenting  attack  upon  Mr. 
Butler  and  his  State,  at  the  subtle  hands  of  Mr. 
Sumner,  aroused  such  indignation  in  the  South 
and  particularly  in  South  Carolina,  that  the  as 
sault  was  almost  demanded  of  the  nephew,  and  a 
defence  by  Mr.  Butler,  himself,  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate,  was  awaited  with  breathless  anxiety. 
In  most  eloquent  terms,  he  defended  himself 
shortly  after  returning  to  Washington,  in  a  speech 
delivered  June  12. 

Mr.  Butler :  Mr.  President — The  occasion  and 
the  subject  upon  which  I  am  about  to  address 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  at  this  time,  have 
been  brought  about  by  events  over  which  I  have 
had  no  control,  and  could  have  had  none — events 
which  have  grown  out  of  the  commencement  of  a 


n8  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

controversy  for  which  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  (not  now  in  his  seat,  Mr.  Sumner) 
should  be  held  exclusively  responsible  to  his 
country  and  his  God.  He  has  delivered  a  speech 
the  most  extraordinary  that  has  ever  had  utter 
ance  in  any  deliberative  body  recognizing  the 
sanction  of  law  and  decency.  When  it  was  de 
livered,  I  was  not  here ;  and  if  I  had  been  present, 
what  I  should  have  done  it  would  be  perfectly  idle 
for  me  now  to  say ;  because  no  one  can  substitute 
the  deliberations  of  a  subsequent  period  for  such 
as  might  liave  influenced  him  at  another  time, 
and  under  different  circumstances.  My  impres 
sion  now  is  that,  if  I  had  been  present,  I  should 
have  asked  the  Senator  before  he  finished  some 
of  the  paragraphs  personally  applicable  to  myself, 
to  pause;  and  if  he  had  gone  on,  I  would  have 
demanded  of  him,  the  next  morning  that  he 
should  review  that  speech,  and  retract  or  modify 
it,  so  as  to  bring  it  within  the  sphere  of  parlia 
mentary  propriety.  If  he  had  refused  this,  what  I 
would  have  done  I  cannot  say;  yet  I  can  say  I 
would  not  have  submitted  to  it.  But  what  mode 
of  redress  I  should  have  resorted  to,  I  cannot  tell. 
1  When  I  was  at  my  little  farm  enjoying  myself 
quietly,  and,  as  I  thought,  had  taken  refuge  from 
.the  strifes  and  contentions  of  the  Senate,  and  of 
politics,  a  message  was  brought  to  me  that  my 
kinsman  had  been  involved  in  a  difficulty  on  my 
account.  It  was  so  vague  I  did  not  know  how  to 
.account  for  it.  I  was  far  from  any  telegraph 
communication.  I  did  not  wait  five  minutes  be 
fore  I  left  home  to  put  myself  within  the  reach 
of  such  information — and  garbled  even  as  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  1 19 

was — as  was  accessible.  I  traveled  four  days 
continuously  to  Washington ;  and  when  I  arrived 
I  found  the  very  subject  under  discussion  which 
had  given  me  such  anxiety;  and  it  has  been  the 
source  of  the  deepest  concern  to  my  feelings  ever 
since  I  heard  of  it,  on  many  accounts — on  account 
of  my  country,  and  on  account  of  the  honor  and 
safety  of  my  kinsman.  When  I  arrived  here  I 
found  the  discussion  under  consideration.  I  went 
to  the  Senate  worn  down  by  travel;  and  I  then 
gave  notice,  that  when  the  resolution  from  Mas 
sachusetts  should  be  presented,  I  would  speak  to 
them  as  coming  from  a  Commonwealth  whose 
history,  and  whose  lessons  of  history,  had  in 
spired  me  with  the  very  highest  admiration 
— I  would  speak  to  them  from  a  respect  to 
a  Commonwealth,  whilst,  perhaps,  the  Sena 
tor  who  had  been  the  cause  of  their  intro 
duction  ought  not  to  deserve  my  notice,  and 
would  not  have  received  it.  ... 

Further  on,  Mr.  Butler  said : 

Instead  of  making  his  speech  here  his  own,  as 
a  Senator  under  the  obligations  of  the  Con 
stitution,  and  the  highest  sanctions  which 
can  influence  the  conduct  of  an  honorable 
man — instead  of  making  it  the  vehicle  of 
high  thoughts  and  noble  emotions  that  would 
become  a  man  and  Senator,  it  is  obvious  now 
that  he  made  that  speech  but  the  conduit — I  will 
use  a  stronger  expression — the  fang,  through 
which  to  express  upon  the  public  the  compound 
poison  of  malignity  and  injustice.  This  is  con 
firmed  by  his  remarkable  exordium,  for,  in  many 
respects,  this  is  the  most  extraordinary  that  has 


120          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

even  found  its  way  into  any  book,  or  upon  any 
occasion  ancient  or  modern.  I  have  never  be 
fore  heard  of  proem  or  exordium  by  proclama 
tion;  and  yet,  before  the  delivery  of  his  speech, 
by  a  telegraphic  proclamation  to  Theodore  Par 
ker,  he  uttered  this  most  remarkable  sentence: 
/'Whilst  you  are  deliberating  in  your  meetings,  I 
am  about  to  pronounce  the  most  thorough 
philippic  that  was  ever  heard  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States."  This  is  in  conformity  with 
Mr.  Parker's  opinion.  He  was  a  flexible  con 
formist  invoking  the  spirit  of  Theodore  Parker 
as  his  muse  to  sustain  him  in  the  strife,  for  which 
by  his  nature  and  talents  he  was  not  fit.  Sir, 
it  was  the  tribute  and  deference  of  a  flexible 
conformist,  willing  to  be  a  rhetorical  fabrication 
to  carry  out  and  subserve  the  purpose  of  a  man, 
as  I  understand,  of  an  iron  will  and  robust  intel 
lect;  who  loves  controversy,  and  has  abilities 
which  more  fit  him,  perhaps,  for  that,  than  for 
worshipping  the  lamb  of  innocence,  and  as  the 
prototype  of  that  Christ  whose  doctrines  he  has 
professed.  To  conciliate  Parker,  the  Senator 
must  make  war  upon  South  Carolina  and  my 
self.  If  he  supposed  he  would  gain  lands  by 
any  attack  on  me  because  I  was  a  "foeman 
worthy  of  his  steel,"  I  might  feel  complimented ; 
but  there  was  no  such  purpose.  It  was  to  pander 
to  the  prejudices  of  Massachusetts,  or  a  portion 
of  Massachusetts — for  God  forbid  that  I  should 
say  anything  which  is  not  proper  of  Massachu 
setts — to  pander  to  a  portion  of  Massachusetts 
by  assailing  South  Carolina.  Before  I  finish  I 
shall  say  what  I  think,  and  if  he  were  here  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  121 

his  place  I  would  make  him  hang  his  head  in 
shame;  for  I  will  demonstrate  before  I  conclude, 
that,  in  what  he  has  said  of  South  Carolina,  he 
has  aspersed  the  nearest  and  dearest  comrade  of 
his  mother.  Yes,  sir,  a  degenerate  son,  incap 
able  of  appreciating  the  relations  which  subsisted 
between  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  at  a 
time  when  there  was  something  more  of  peril 
to  be  encountered  than  exhibitions  of  rhetoric  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States;  when  men 
placed  their  lives  and  their  fortunes  on  the  issue 
which  had  been  made.  I  will  prove  him  a 
calumniator.  While  he  has  charged  me  with 
misstating  history,  law,  and  the  Constitution,  let 
me  say  that  "he  who  lives  in  glass  houses  should 
not  throw  stones."  I  here  say,  and  I  pledge  my 
self  to  it,  that  I  will  convict  him,  and  shall  de 
mand  of  the  Senate  a  verdict  of  guilty. 

But,  Mr.  President,  there  is  one  result  of  this 
speech  which  I  think  may  be  regarded  as  good. 
He  has  shown  as  Mr.  Beecher  says,  that  he  is 
unfit  for  the  war  of  debate.  He  has  no  business 
to  gather  the  glories  of  the  Senate  Chamber  and 
fight  with  orators,  unless  he  is  prepared  to  main 
tain  the  position  of  an  honorable  combatant. 
Though  his  friends  have  invested  him  with  the 
dress  of  Achilles  and  offered  him  his  armor,  he 
has  shown  that  he  is  only  able  to  fight  with  the 
weapons  of  Thersites,  and  deserved  what  that 
brawler  received  from  the  hands  of  the  gallant 
Ulysses. 

When  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  took 
his  seat  near  me,  I  knew  that  he  was  a  Free- 
soiler  or  Abolitionist,  as  it  was  termed ;  but  not- 


124  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

think  that  sometimes  I  did.  Whatever  the 
temptation  of  my  resentment  may  be,  I  have 
passed,  and  shall  pass,  through  life  with  one 
determination;  If  I  cannot  do  justice,  I  will  not 
do  injustice  to  any  man.  I  have  exhibited  here 
in  debate,  on  more  occasions  than  one,  impa 
tience  and  excitability;  these  are  peculiarities 
which  have  followed  me  from  the  cradle.  Per 
haps,  sometimes  anger,  in  its  ebulitions,  may 
have  found  an  expression  from  me;  but,  thank 
God,  I  can  say  it  was  but  a  transient  feeling, 
which  at  the  time  gushed  from  the  heart;  it  was 
a  feeling  which  subsequently  was  suppressed  by 
reason  and  repentance.  That  however,  is  a 
failing  which  cannot  inhabit  the  same  mind  with 
treachery  and  malignity. 

Now,  sir,  I  will  proceed  to  make  my  points ; 
and  I  shall  show  that  what  the  Senator  said  of 
myself  and  South  Carolina  was  not  in  response 
to  anything  which  I  said;  that  he  has  gone  out 
side  the  record  to  bring  into  the  debate  matters 
which  did  not  legitimately  belong  to  it  by  asso 
ciation  or  connection.  .  .  .  Shame!  I  call 
upon  the  shade  of  Hancock  and  Adams  to  look 
down  and  reprove  a  degenerate  son  who  can 
thus  invade  the  very  sanctuary  of  the  history 
which  has  given  them  immortality. 

Do  you  think  that,  sir,  by  this  remark  I 
reproached  the  troops  of  New  England!  No, 
sir.  When  Yorktown  surrendered,  there  was 
not  a  New  England  regiment  there ;  I  have  a  list 
of  the  troops  who  were  present.  But  because  I 
say  that  Southern  troops  and  those  from  Penn 
sylvania  alone  engaged  in  these  distinguished 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  125 

battles,  do  I  reproach  the  troops  of  Massachu 
setts?  God  forbid!  They  were  under  the  com 
mand  of  Washington  at  the  time  he  went  to 
Yorktown  and  as  was  his  duty,  he  sent  them  to 
defend  the  vulnerable  points  of  New  York  and 
Boston.  Now  I  will  make  a  remark  which  I 
hope  the  Senate  will  remember:  Notwithstand 
ing  their  relative  numbers  compared  with  the 
pay  list  of  New  England,  you  may  take  the 
fighting  days — if  you  have  a  mind  to  compute  it 
as  you  would  labor — you  may  take  the  fighting 
days  during  which  the  troops  of  South  Caro 
lina  were  engaged,  and  in  the  computation  the 
balance  will  be  found  greatly  against  Massachu 
setts.  If  you  have  a  mind  to  draw  some  other 
test — if  you  wish  to  test  the  question  of  sacrifice, 
and  measure  it  by  blood,  South  Carolina  has 
poured  out  hogshead  of  blood  where  gallons  have 
been  poured  out  by  Massachusetts.  .  .  .  But  I 
do  not  blame  Massachusetts,  for  as  I  have  said, 
she  had  glory  enough,  and  she  was  covered  with 
glory  enough  by  taking  the  bold  stand  which 
she  did  in  putting  the  ball  of  revolution  in  mo 
tion;  but  when  the  Senator  undertakes  to  cast 
reproaches  on  the  history  of  South  Carolina,  he 
will  have  to  take  hard  comparisons.  She  got 
bread  from  her  comrade.  The  man  who  now 
reproaches  South  Carolina  as  I  said  a  little 
while  ago,  is  a  degenerate  son  reproaching  the 
dearest  and  nearest  comrade  of  his  mother.  You 
cannot  get  over  the  errors  he  has  committed  in 
history;  you  cannot  obviate  the  malignity  with 
which  the  arrow  has  been  shot.  Whether  he 
shot  it  with  the  reckless  aim  of  one  who  had  his 


126          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

hand  upon  the  bow,  and  directed  the  shaft  con 
scious  that  it  had  been  dipped  in  the  poison  of 
others,  I  know  not;  but  I  have  unmasked  him; 
I  have  detected  and  exposed  the  man  who 
charges  me  with  error,  and  such  a  proclivity  to 
error  that  I  cannot  observe  the  line  of  truth 
without  such  deviations  as  to  bring  on  the  cen 
sure,  not  of  one  intentionally  of  falsehood,  but 
one  who,  under  the  gust  and  whirlwind  of 
passion,  cannot  observe  the  line  of  truth.  I  have 
detected  him;  I  have  exposed  him;  and  now  I 
demand  of  the  Senate  a  verdict  of  guilty.  I 
pause,  sir. 


It  was  nearly  three  years  before  Mr.  Sumner 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  injuries,  and 
when  he  again  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  both 
Mr.  Butler  and  Mr.  Brooks,  had  passed  over  the 
bar. 

On  the  death  of  Mr.  Butler,  several  orations 
were  made  in  the  Senate;  the  context  of  one 
delivered  by  the  silver-tongued  Benjamin  here 
following : 

The  feeling  and  eloquent  tribute  that  has 
just  been  rendered  to  the  memory  of  our  de 
parted  brother,  has  awakened  sensibilities  which 
I  fear  will  be  jarred  by  anything  I  can  hope  to 
say;  yet,  sir,  having  been  thought  worthy  of  an 
invitation  to  join  in  these  sad  rites,  I  pray  you 
for  a  moment's  indulgence  whilst  I  lay  an 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  127 

humble  offering  on  the  grave  around  which  we 
are  gathered. 

It  is  literally  but  yesterday  that  the  seat  before 
me  was  filled  by  the  venerable  form  of  Caro 
lina's  senior  Senator;  to-day  Carolina  mourns 
his  loss;  the  electric  messenger  has  done  its 
work,  and  the  friends  of  his  are  even  now 
mingling  their  griefs  with  ours ;  recalling  as  we 
are,  the  affecting  words  with  which  so  lately  he 
lamented,  on  the  death  of  his  late  colleague,  that 
the  inexorable  fiat  had  striken  down  the  vigorous 
tree,  and  left  unscathed  the  withered  remnants 
of  the  decaying  trunk. 

Sad  indeed  have  been  the  recent  bereavements 
which  it  has  pleased  Providence  to  inflict  upon 
the  native  State  of  him  we  mourn.  The  awe 
stricken  heart  of  the  nation  was  still  throbbing 
heavily  in  unison  with  hers  for  the  loss  of  her 
pre-eminent  son.  When  on  my  taking  my  seat 
in  this  body  I  learned  to  know  and  love  both  the 
colleague  and  the  almost  immediate  successor  of 
John  C.  Calhoun.  A  few  short  years  have 
elapsed,  and  where  is  now  the  beaming  eye  of 
Andrew  Pickens  Butler?  Where  his  genial 
presence,  his  ringing  voice,  his  manly  bearing, 
his  whole  being  stamped  as  it  was  with  the  seal 
of  honor,  the  impress  of  true  nobility  of  soul? 
Broken  hearted  at  the  loss  of  his  gallant  kins 
man,  he  has  sunk  into  the  tomb;  to  which,  with 
shaken  frame  and  streaming  eyes  he  had  fol 
lowed  the  lamented  Brooks. 

Hamilton,  too,  the  chivalrous,  the  warm 
hearted,  the  eloquent  Hamilton,  sleeps  beneath 
the  deep  waters  of  the  Southern  gulf.  And  now, 


128  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

now,  Evans,  the  erudite  Judge,  the  honored  Sen 
ator,  the  soul  of  truth,  who  loved  justice  for  the 
sake  of  justice,  truth  for  the  sake  of  truth,  he 
too  is  to  be  borne  to  the  last  common  resting 
place  of  man;  and  amongst  us,  the  place  that 
has  known  him  shall  know  him  no  more.  This 
is  not  the  time  nor  the  place  for  a  calm  and 
measured  analysis  of  those  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities  which  won  for  Josiah  J.  Evans 
the  proud  distinction  of  being  selected  by  his 
native  State  as  worthy  to  fill  the  seat  once  occu 
pied  by  Calhoun.  Yet  it  is  not  alien  to  the 
feelings  natural  on  such  an  occasion  that  affec 
tion  should  revert  to  the  traits  peculiarly  charac 
teristic  of  the  deceased — and  fondly  seek  to 
stamp  upon  the  memory  all  that  can  preserve  a 
vivid  image  of  him  who  has  left  us  forever. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  129 


XVI. 

JUDGE  WADE. 

The  name  of  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  or,  as  some 
called  him,  "Old  Ben  Wade,"  was  esteemed  from 
one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  and  by  those 
who  knew  the  man,  it  was  ever  held  in  affec 
tionate  regard;  for  he  possessed  those  excellent 
qualities  that  make  one  to  be  valued  both  as 
friend  and  public  servant. 

His  ancestor,  Jonathan  Wade,  emigrated  from 
Norfolk,  England,  and  settled  in  Massachusetts, 
in  1632.  Benjamin  Wade  was  born  at  Spring 
field,  in  that  State,  in  1800.  At  eighteen  years  of 
age,  he  with  some  regrets,  turned  from  the  plow, 
with  which  he  had  labored  many  a  day  on  the  old 
farm,  and  struck  out  to  seek  his  fortunes,  like 
many  other  boys  of  those  times.  He  was  not 
afraid  of  hard  work,  having  been  inured  to  it 
from  early  boyhood,  and  now,  wrestling  with  the 
tides  of  life,  he  faltered  not  at  being  forced  to 
work  with  spade  and  wheelbarrow  on  the  con 
struction  of  the  Erie  Canal.  As  best  he  could, 
in  spite  of  divers  difficulties,  he  acquired  the  rudi 
ments  of  the  English  branches  of  education,  and 
later,  having  progressed  as  far  West  as  Ashtabula 
County,  Ohio,  he  took  up  the  study  of  law.  To 
pass  over  the  years  of  toil  and  deprivation,  with- 


130          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

out  dwelling  upon  any  period  of  the  chastening 
that  was  making  him  a  man  of  mark,  we  find  him 
at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  in  the  United  States 
Senate  from  the  State  of  Ohio.  But  his  ideas  of 
negro  equality  with  the  white  man,  made  him 
very  unpopular  for  a  time;  however,  in  1847,  he 
came  once  more  into  public  favor,  his  previous 
course  having  been  approved,  and  was  elected  to 
the  judiciary  of  the  State.  His  successful  career 
as  a  judge  was  closed  in  1851,  when  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

Judge  Wade  was  somewhat  above  the  average 
in  height,  stout,  and  of  dark  complexion.  His 
features  were  strong,  almost  savage,  and  any  who 
had  not  enjoyed  his  friendship  would  have  mis 
taken  him  for  a  cold  and  unfeeling  man;  but  to 
the  contrary  he  was  warm-hearted  and  sympa 
thetic.  In  the  early  years  he  had  robbed  many 
nights  of  their  hours,  pouring  over  his  Bible, 
its  words  of  light  and  truth  being  stored  away 
in  his  memory;  and  there  were  many  occasions 
when  he  quoted  familiarly  from  the  Book  of 
Books. 

Silent  and  thoughtful,  his  black  eyes  penetrat 
ing  wheresoever  they  were  turned,  I  remember 
what  a  fine  appearance  he  made  as  President  pro- 
temp  ore  of  the  Senate.  He  never  wore  a  finger 
ring  or  breast  pin.  He  cared  nothing  for  adorn 
ment.  Dressed  always  in  plain  black  clothes,  with 
standing  collar  of  the  old  style,  immaculate  in 
every  detail,  he  was  the  picture  of  the  true  Amer 
ican  statesman. 

He  withdrew  from  the  Whigs  in  1854,  when 
he  saw  their  Southern  wing  cut  off  and  joined  to 


F,     WADE. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  131 

the  Democracy.  From  that  time  forth  he  knew 
no  Whig  party,  but  was  heart  and  soul  devoted 
to  the  principles  of  the  Republican  forces, 
though  small  indeed  were  Republicans  in  num 
ber  compared  with  the  Democratic  ranks.  In 
May  1856,  he  arose  one  day  saying: 

"I  desire  on  some  occasion,  to  occupy  a  short 
time  in  the  discussion  of  the  Kansas  question.  I 
am  not  particular  as  to  the  day  when  I  shall  be 
heard.  I  have  not  yet  spoken  on  the  subject,  but 
my  constituents  expect  me  to  give  my  views  upon 
it,  and  I  shall  therefore  ask  the  Senate,  at  some 
suitable  time,  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  be 
heard.  I  shall  leave  it,  however,  to  the  Senate 
to  say  what  time  will  be  most  convenient  to  them. 
I  trust  that  the  Kansas  bill  is  not  to  be  rushed 
through  with  precipitate  haste.  It  is  the  great 
question  of  the  session.  In  the  minds  of  the 
people  of  the  North — and  I  think  the  same  re 
mark  applies  to  the  South — it  absorbs  all  other 
questions.  It  is  the  great  measure  of  the  session, 
and  it  ought  not  to  be  acted  upon  with  precipita 
tion.  In  my  judgment,  we  should  proceed  with 
great  deliberation,  and  should  allow  every  Sena 
tor  an  opportunity  of  presenting  his  views  to  the 
Senate  and  to  his  constituents.  I  hope  the  Sena 
tor  from  Illinois  will  not  press  his  bill  hastily.  I 
trust  that  he  comprehends  its  great  importance. 
After  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  have 
spoken  on  this  question,  I  do  not  expect  to  be  able 
to  shed  much  light  upon  it,  but  nevertheless,  it 
will  be  my  duty  to  give  my  views  in  regard  to 
it,  and  I  trust  we  shall  hear  the  views  of  many 
others  before  we  arrive  at  any  conclusion. 


134          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Democratic  party  than  if  he  came  from  a  peni 
tentiary.  The  love  of  liberty  operates  as  a  con 
viction  for  crime.  It  deprives  him  of  the  rights 
of  an  American  citizen.  He  can  hold  no  office  of 
trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States,  if  he 
hapoens  to  believe  that  men  are  created  equal  and 
have  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  This 
is  the  degeneracy  to  whicii  your  Democratic  party 
has  come.  I  am  humiliated  by  it;  I  am  put  be 
yond  the  pale  of  office.  There  is  not  one  of  the 
majority  in  the  other  House,  calling  themselves 
Republicans,  who  were  elected  by  an  overwhelm 
ing  majority  of  the  free  people  of  the  United 
States,  whose  Representative  they  are,  who  is  not 
under  your  Democratic  rule,  as  effectively  pro 
scribed  from  receiving  an  office  at  the  hands  of 
the  Democratic  party  as  though  he  was  an  inmate 
of  a  penitentiary.  Why?  Because  he  has  under 
taken  to  resist  your  attempt  to  make  slavery  in 
these  United  States  universal  and  perpetual  for 
ever.  These  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  I 
stand  here  to  inveigh  against  your  institution.  It 
has  corrupted  public  men.  It  has  overturned  the 
Government.  You  have  erected  rules  and  prin 
ciples  utterly  inconsistent  with  those  of  the  fath 
ers  of  the  Republic.  You  know  that  I  preach 
no  more  than  the  truth — nay,  half  the  truth  has 
not  been  told  on  this  subject.  I  desire  to  reason 
with  men;  and  1  ask  my  Democratic  friends  of 
the  South,  do  you  suppose  for  one  moment  that  a 
proud  people,  jealous  above  all  things  of  their 
rights,  whose  fathers  periled  their  lives  to  obtain 
those  guarantees  of  liberty  which  we  are  defend- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  135 

ing;  I  ask  you  in  sober  reason,  divested  of  all 
acrimony,  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  it  is 
entirely  safe  to  drive  that  class  of  men  to  the 
wall  ?  Do  you  expect  that  it  will  be  safe  to  deny, 
forever  those  great  principles  of  liberty  which  are 
cherished  by  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  as  the  apple  of  their  eye !  If  you 
do  I  tell  you  you  will  wake  up  some  morning  and 
find  you  have  gone  a  step  too  far.  The  patience 
of  our  people  on  this  subject,  has  been  more 
severely  tried  than  was  that  of  their  fathers.  If 
those  venerated  sires  could  look  down  on  us  to 
day,  they  would  reproach  us  for  our  patient 
submission  for  so  long  a  time." 


As  President  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate,  Judge 
Wade  appointed  the  keeper  of  the  restaurant.  A 
rumor  had  gone  about,  at  one  time,  that  a  change 
was  to  be  made  in  the  incumbency  of  that  office, 
and  the  colored  man  then  enjoying  the  profits  of 
the  business,  approached  Mr.  Wade,  and  said: 
"I  keep  the  Senate  restaurant,  Senator."  "Oh, 
yes,  you  run  the  cook  shop  down  stairs,"  replied 
Mr.  Wade.  "Yes,  sir,"  with  a  low  bow. 

"Well,  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?"  "I  called  to 
express  the  wish,  sir,  that  when  there  is  anything 
you  want,  sir,  you  will  send  one  of  the  pages 
down  stairs,  and  it  will  be  furnished  quick  as  a 
flash  and  without  costing  you  a  cent."  "Oh,  I 
don't  want  you  to  feed  me.  When  I  do  I'll  pay 
for  it,  like  other  people."  Then  seeming  to  recol 
lect  something,  he  continued,  "But,  listen.  Com 
plaint  has  been  made  to  me  that  you  don't  treat 


136          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

the  little  pages  fairly  or  kindly,  they  can't  get 
anything  to  eat,  but  expensive  things.  Remem 
ber,  these  pages  are  our  boys,  and  you  had  better 
overcharge  Senators  who  are  able  to  pay,  than 
those  little  chaps  who  need  their  wages  to  take 
home.  You'll  treat  them  differently  hereafter,  or 
I'll  have  you  moved  out  of  your  cook  shop,  and 
put  someone  else  in  it."  That  was  enough.  We 
were  treated  differently  after  that. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  137 


XVII. 

CONTINUED  DEBATE  ON  KANSAS  AFFAIRS. 

From  all  sides,  from  all  angles,  and  from  all 
minds,  came  the  outpourings  of  opinion  in  this 
debate.  If  the  Senate  had  nothing  better  to  do,  it 
seemed  quite  ready  at  all  times  to  fall  back  on 
poor  Kansas.  It  was  a  wide  subject,  as  it  proved, 
because  the  consequences  impending  upon  it  were 
grave,  and  involved  many  questions  and  drew 
nearly  all  the  Senate  into  the  consideration  of  it. 
There  was  defeat  hanging  in  the  balance  on 
either  hand,  as  the  contestants  readily  saw,  defeat 
not  only  on  the  admission  of  Kansas,  but  defeat 
on  the  slavery  issue  aside  from  that;  and  it  be 
hove  the  most  valiant  knights  in  the  lists  to  arm 
themselves  cap-a-pie,  for  the  hardest  conflict  of 
their  day. 

Now  we  turn  toward  Mr.  Benjamin,  who 
throws  more  light  upon  this  troublesome  situation. 
In  all  his  speeches  he  displayed  the  skill  of  the 
trained  lawyer,  the  foresight  of  the  statesman, 
and  the  illumination  of  the Egyptian.  Al 
though  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  great  oration, 
upon  this  occasion  he  spoke  with  some  point  and 
originality  and  opened  new  vistas  to  the  sight. 


Mr.  President,  This  is  the  third  time  within 


138  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

the  short  history  of  our  republic,  that  its  peace 
has  been  imperiled.  Thrice  already  has  the  bond 
which  binds  together  the  different  States  of  the 
Confederacy  been  menaced  with  disruption,  and 
on  each  occasion  the  disturbing  element  has  been 
the  same.  This  Union,  which,  at  the  date  of  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  was  formed  by  one 
non-Slaveholding  and  twelve  Slaveholding  States, 
now  presents  an  array  of  sixteen  of  the  former, 
and  only  fifteen  of  the  latter.  Causes,  which  are 
too  obvious  to  require  enumeration  have  oper 
ated  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government  in 
producing  the  abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  north 
ern  portion  of  the  country. 

On  the  first  of  these  occasions,  Mr.  President, 
in  1820,  more  than  thirty  years  after  the  forma 
tion  of  the  Union,  the  North  for  the  first  time 
endeavored  to  secure  the  admission  of  Maine  into 
the  Union,  while  at  the  same  time  it  attempted 
to  exclude  Missouri,  and  that  too  in  defiance  of 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  Cession  of  1803, 
the  words  of  which  are  that  "the  said  Territory- 
shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  at  the  earliest 
possible  period  consistently  with  principles  of  the 
Federal  Constitution." 

The  history  of  that  controversy  has  been  too 
frequently  and  too  thoroughly  discussed  on  this 
floor  within  the  last  two  years  to  permit  me  to 
dwell  upon  it  at  any  length.  I  must,  however,  be 
permitted  to  express  my  regret  that  the  eminent 
men  who  had  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  South 
at  that  time  ever  yielded  their  consent  to  a  com 
promise  which  in  my  judgment  is  contrary  to  the 
true  theory  of  the  Constitution,  irreconcilable 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  139 

with  a  just  regard  to  the  principle  of  equity 
amongst  the  States,  and  which  as  a  mere  measure 
of  policy,  was  totally  inadequate  to  the  end  pro 
posed — of  securing  perfect  harmony  upon  the 
subject  of  a  division  between  the  different  sec 
tions  of  the  Confederacy  of  that  territory  which 
was  common  to  all.  It  never  answered  its  pur 
poses — not  for  a  single  year.  Scarcely  had  it 
been  passed  when  it  was  broken  by  nearly  every 
Northern  State.  Whenever  appealed  to  by  the 
South,  it  was  scorned,  derided,  and  repudiated. 
When  in  1850  we  proposed  the  extension  of  its 
principle  to  the  territory  acquired  in  the  Mexican 
war  our  proposition  was  contumeliously  rejected. 
When  in  1854  we  finally  agreed  to  repeal  in  terms 
that  which  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
had  ceased  to  have  any  active  effect,  it  was  made 
use  of  as  a  subject  of  vituperation  towards  the 
South. 

We  were  accused  of  violating  "plighted  faith" 
— with  very  much  the  same  regard  for  truth  as 
has  recently  been  displayed  on  this  floor  in  those 
mendacious  tales  which  have  been  brought  to  us 
about  the  state  of  affairs  in  Kansas. 

I  repeat,  Mr.  President,  the  policy  of  seeking 
for  some  other  compromises  than  those  which  are 
contained  in  the  Constitution  was  a  mistaken 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  South. 

The  condition  of  the  country  this  day  shows 
the  fact.  I  thank  Heaven  that  the  South  has  at 
length  become  aware  of  this  mistake.  She  has 
no  longer  any  compromises  to  offer  or  accept. 
She  looks  to  those  contained  in  the  Constitution 
itself.  By  them  she  will  live;  to  them  she  will 


140  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

adhere;  and  if  those  provisions  which  are  con 
tained  in  it  shall  be  violated  to  her  wrong,  then 
she  will  calmly  and  resolutely  withdraw  from 
a  compact  all  the  obligations  of  which  she  is 
expected  to  scrupulously  to  fulfill,  from  all  the 
benefits  of  which  she  is  ignominiously  excluded. 
Upon  each  of  these  occasions,  long  debate  has 
taken  place  upon  the  question  of  the  power  of 
Congress  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Territories 
by  law.  The  discussion  on  this  subject  has  been 
so  full  and  thorough,  every  aspect  in  which  it 
is  capable  of  being  presented  has  been  so  minutely 
examined,  that  I  cannot  detain  the  Senate  by  a 
further  discussion  of  it.  This  however  I  will  say 
— that  all  admit  that  the  power  to  legislate  for  the 
Territories  is  nowhere  given  in  express  terms  in 
the  Constitution.  It  is  true,  sir,  that  the  honor 
able  Senator  from  New  Hampshire  (Mr.  Hale) 
who  opened  the  discussion  on  this  subject,  did  say 
something  about  that  power  being  contained  in  a 
clause  of  the  Constitution  which  rests  in  Con 
gress'  authority  to  dispose  of  public  property. 
The  argument  on  that  point,  however,  has  been 
so  often  refuted,  and  was  on  the  occasion  so 
triumphantly  answered  by  my  friend  from  Geor 
gia  (Mr.  Toombs)  that  it  is  entirely  unnecessary, 
to  advert  to  it  any  further.  Sir,  I  propose  to 
place  this  question  on  higher  grounds  than  any 
reference  to  the  mere  text  of  the  Constitution.  I 
propose  to  seek  for  its  true  spirit ;  to  enquire  into 
the  true  theory;  to  look  into  the  condition  of 
these  States  when  the  Constitution  was  framed; 
and  to  see  whether,  from  all  the  circumstances 
that  surrounded  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  141 

it  be  possible  that  Congress  can  exercise  the 
power  to  exclude  slaves  from  the  Territories.  In 
connection  with  this  subject,  I  desire  to  read  a 
passage  from  the  speech  of  the  Senator  from 
New  York  (Mr.  Seward),  who  has  given  cur 
rency  to  a  fallacy  which  is  popular,  which  was 
briefly  adverted  to  by  my  friend  from  Alabama, 
(Mr.  Clay),  and  I  think  deserving  of  some  more 
extended  consideration.  I  read  this  passage  from 
that  speech: 

"Slavery  is  an  outlaw  under  the  law  of  Na 
tions.  Still  further,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  has  expressly  incorporated  into  it 
self  all  of  the  laws  of  comity,  for  regulating  the 
intercourse  between  independent  States,  which 
it  deems  proper  to  adopt.  Whatever  is  forbidden 
expressly  by  the  Constitution  is  unlawful,  'what 
ever  is  not  forbidden  is  lawful.' 

I  maintain  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Constitu 
tion  may  be  just  as  flagrantly  and  palpably 
violated  by  the  abuse  of  powers  expressly  con 
ceded  as  by  the  usurpation  of  powers  expressly 
prohibited.  This  is  no  novel  doctrine.  It  obtains 
not  only  under  this  Government;  it  has  ever  ob- 
taind  in  all  Governments  in  which  Constitutions 
and  laws  are  not  mere  empty  words.  Let  us  take 
up  the  Constitution,  and  examine  some  of  its 
clauses  in  illustration  of  my  meaning.  Congress 
shall  have  power  "to  establish  post  offices  and 
post  roads." 

Suppose  by  an  increase  in  the  number  of  the 
free  States,  they  obtain  control  of  the  legislative 
and  executive  departments  and  then  proceed  to 
appropriate  the  money  of  the  Government  exclu- 


142  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

sively  for  postal  facilities  in  those  States,  refus 
ing  all  appropriations  to  the  others.  It  has  power 
to  "erect  forts,  magazines,  and  arsenals."  Sup 
pose  a  Northern  majority  to  use  the  common 
fund  of  the  Union  for  protecting  its  own  coasts, 
and  to  refuse  all  appropriations  for  that  purpose 
to  the  slaveholding  States. 

The  President  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  "Shall  have  power  to  appoint  embas- 
sadors,  Judges  of  the  Court  and  other  public 
officers." 

Suppose  all  the  officers  of  the  Government  to 
be  regularly  and  systematically  selected  from  one 
section  of  the  country,  which  might  possess  a 
preponderating  power;  that  every  judge,  collec 
tor,  and  postmaster  required  for  service  in  the 
South  should  be  selected  from  the  North. 

Can  any  man  doubt,  sir,  that  in  any  of  these 
cases,  the  Constitution  would  be  as  clearly  and 
shamelessly  violated  by  such  an  abuse  of  power 
as  it  could  possibly  be  by  the  usurpation  of  an 
authority  not  granted? 

Mr.  President,  quite  recently  across  the  At 
lantic,  in  the  country  from  which  we  derive  most 
of  our  law  and  liberty,  an  attempt  was  made  by  the 
Queen  to  appoint  to  the  House  of  Lords  a  single 
peer,  with  a  peerage  for  life.  The  power  of  the 
Crown  to  appoint  peers  was  undoubted;  the 
Ministry  advised  the  appointment ;  and  yet  oppo 
sition  was  made  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the 
proposition  was  advanced,  maintained,  and  sus 
tained,  that,  although  the  prerogative  of  creating 
peers  existed,  the  exercise  of  it,  by  the  creation 
of  a  life  peerage,  was  an  abuse,  and  contrary  to 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  143 

the  fundamental  constitution  of  the  Kingdom. 
The  Crown  yielded,  and  the  Lords  triumphed. 
Sir,  look  at  your  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Upon  what  grounds  was  it  that  its  immortal  au 
thor  placed  the  right  of  the  people  of  this  country 
to  assert  their  independence,  and  to  declare  that 
for  the  future  they  would  hold  the  people  of 
Great  Britain  enemies  in  war;  in  peace  friends? 
Look  at  the  entire  list  of  grievances.  There  is 
scarcely  one  of  them  that  is  the  usurpation  of  an 
unconstitutional  power ;  every  one  of  them  is  the 
abuse  of  an  admitted  Constitutional  power.  Upon 
that  principle  your  Revolution  rests.  And,  sir, 
it  is  not  to-day,  nor  before  a  body  like  this,  that 
those  who  represent  Southern  interest  are  to  be 
told  that  the  question  is,  whether  a  particular 
power  is  granted  by  the  terms  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  without  reference  to  its  spirit  All  feel  at. 
once,  sir,  that  the  instances,  which  I  have  sug 
gested  would  be  gross  abuses,  entirely  contrary 
to  that  spirit.  What,  then,  is  the  principle  that 
underlies  that  whole  compact  for  our  common 
government,  and  which  we  should  all  instictively 
feel  to  have  been  outraged  by  such  abuses?  It 
is,  sir,  the  equality  of  the  free  and  independent 
States  which  that  instrument  links  together  in  a 
common  bond  of  union — entire,  absolute,  com 
plete,  unqualified,  equality — equality  as  sover 
eigns,  equality  in  their  rights,  equality  in  their 
duties. 

This  was  the  spirit  that  presided  over  the 
formation  of  the  Constitution;  this  is  the  living 
spirit  that  breathes  through  every  line  of  it ;  this 


144  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

is  the  object  professed  by  it  of  forming  "a  more 
perfect  union" 

"Great  were  the  thoughts,  and  strong  the  minds, 

Of  those  who  framed  in  high  debate 
The  immortal  league  of  love  that  binds 
Our  fair,  broad  empire  State  to  State." 

And  now,  sir  when  the  struggle  is  narrowed 
down  to  a  contest  between  the  Democratic  and 
Republican  parties,  I  should  be  recreant  to  my 
trust — recreant  to  every  principle  of  duty  and 
feeling  of  patriotism,  if  I  allowed  my  conduct  to 
be  influenced  by  the  memory  of  past  party  ties,  or 
past  party  prejudices.  On  that  question  whose 
paramount  importance  overshadows  all  others  the 
Democratic  platform  is  identical  with  that  of  the 
old  Whig  party,  and  in  declaring  my  adhesion 
to  the  former,  I  but  change  name  not  prin 
ciple.  I,  sir,  therefore  declare  my  purpose 
to  join  the  Democratic  party.  I  declare  my 
intention  to  use  the  utmost  efforts  of  my 
feeble  abilities  to  insure  its  success.  In  its 
triumph — as  triumph  it  assuredly  will — the 
Constitution  of  my  country  will  be  secured 
from  the  dangers  with  which  it  is  menaced; 
kind  and  brotherly  feelings  amongst  the  people 
of  all  sections  of  the  Confederacy  will  be  re 
stored;  religious  intolerance  will  be  rebuked;  the 
equity  of  the  States,  the  Kevstone  of  the  arch  of 
the  government  fabric,  will  be  preserved  intact, 
and  peace  and  prosperity,  and  happiness  will 
smile  on  the  land.  Although  coming  to  this  de 
termination,  after  long  and  anxious  deliberation, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  P\GE  145 

my  own  convictions  alone  would  have  sufficed  to 
dictate  my  course;  it  would  be  uncandid  for  me 
not  to  say,  that  I  feel  encouragement  from  the 
fact  that  other  and  abler,  and  better  men  than  I 
have  taken  the  same  view  of  their  duty  in  this 
crisis,  which  my  own  convictions  have  pointed  out 
to  me.  From  all  parts  of  the  country,  comes  the 
cheering  intelligence,  that  gallant,  and  patriotic, 
and  highminded  leaders  of  the  old  Whig  party, 
ever  faithful  to  the  conservative  principles  which 
they  have  professed,  are  rallying  to  the  defense 
of  the  Constitution  from  the  attack  of  its  fanat 
ical  assailants.  On  which  sides  soever  of  this 
Chamber  I  cast  my  eyes,  I  behold  the  men  whom 
the  Whig  party  ever  delighted  to  honor,  lending 
their  courage  and  strength  to  the  success  of  that 
common  cause,  which  we  together  have  espoused. 
Sir,  the  end  is  not  yet;  others  will  follow.  The 
time  will  come  and  come  very  soon — sooner  than 
thev  think.  As  the  designs  of  the  enemy  become 
more  and  more  developed,  the  patriot  band  will 
be  augmented  with  fresh  recruits.  Yes,  sir;  let 
the  note  of  alarm  be  sounded  through  the  land; 
let  the  people  only  be  informed ;  let  them  be  told 
of  the  momentous  crisis  which  is  at  hand;  they 
will  rise  in  their  might,  placing  their  heel  on  the 
head  of  the  serpent  that  has  glided  into  their 
Eden,  they  will  crush  it  to  the  earth,  once  and 
forever. 

The  latter  portion  of  Mr.  Benjamin's  speech 
brought  Mr.  Hale  to  his  feet  with  some  amusing 
remarks. 

Mr.  Hale:  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  intend  to 
go  into  this  legal  question  at  all,  because  I  en- 


'146          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

deavored  to  get  the  floor  before  either  of  the 
Senators  on  that  point.  Whenever  I  have  occa 
sion  to  quote  legal  authority  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  I  shall  not  go  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  which  I  have  twice  on  this  floor 
pronounced  to  be  a  citadel  of  slavery,  for  which 
I  have  been  censured.  I  have  practiced  law  some 
what,  and  I  have  learned  this  one  lesson — never 
go  into  the  emeny's  camps  for  witnesses.  I  will 
abide  by  this  lesson.  But,  sir,  there  was  one  re 
mark  of  the  Senator  for  Louisiana  (Mr.  Benja 
min),  to  which  I  wish  to  call  attention.  I  listened 
to  that  honorable  Senator  with  great  pleasure,  as 
I  always  do,  on  account  of  his  acknowledged  abil 
ity,  his  great  eloquence,  his  very  persuasive  pow 
ers,  his  mellifluous  voice,  his  winning  and  grace 
ful  manner.  All  this  only  makes  me  regret  that 
he  is  in  a  wrong  position.  He  did,  however, 
make  to-day,  one  admission  for  which  I  thank 
him  (to  use  his  own  eloquent  phrase),  from  my 
heart  of  hearts! 

When  I  saw  members  of  that  political  com 
munion  to  which  he  has  joined  himself,  congratu 
late  him,  I  felt  that  I  should  like  to  recieve  such 
an  accession.  I  know,  that  he  will  never  be  put 
on  probation,  but  he  will  be  taken  in  right  away 
the  first  day;  he  will  be  admitted  to  the  third 
degree  when  he  gives  the  first  tap,  (laughter), 
there  is  no  doubt  about  that.  When  I  saw  them 
come  up  and  congratulate  him  and  themselves  on 
the  occasion,  as  well  they  might,  I  wished  to 
congratulate  the  Republican  party  on  just  such 
another  accession. 

There  was  one  sentence  which  fell  from  hib 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  147 

lips  for  which  I  thank  him,  and  for  which  I  con 
gratulate  him;  and  that  is  a  declaration  and  ad 
mission  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  which  I  have 
labored  for  ten  years  past  to  establish  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  my  northern  friends.  I  have 
spent  days  and  nights,  and  words  and  breath,  be 
fore  a  northern  constituency,  to  prove  exactly  the 
proposition  which  to-day,  thank  God,  is  admitted 
—that  on  the  question  of  slavery,  Whigs  and 
Democrats  all  stand  together.  Sir,  there  has  been 
more  breath  spent  in  northern  States  before  the 
Anti-Slavery  men  to  prove  that,  than — I  was  go 
ing  to  say,  has  been  used  in  filling  your  Congres 
sional  Globe  during  the  same  time,  but  I  know 
that  is  an  extravagant  comparison.  (Laughter.) 
That  has  been  the  position  I  have  taken  year  in 
and  year  out.  I  have  seen  Whigs  sit  and  listen 
to  it  with  the  most  complacent  incredulity,  saying, 
"We  don't  believe  a  word  of  it."  Sir,  a  sort  of 
convulsive  shudder  has  come  over  their  aristo 
cratic  countenance  when  the  idea  has  been 
broached  to  them  that  they  are  to  sit  down  in  the 
same  pen  with  the  Locofocos*  whom  they  have 
been  abusing  all  their  lives.  There  has  been  no 

*A  nickname  formerly  given  to  a  member  of  the 
Democratic  party ;  first  applied  in  1834,  to  a  por 
tion  of  that  party  which  held  a  meeting  in  Tam 
many  Hall,  New  York  City,  where  there  was 
great  diversity  of  sentiment,  the  chairman  leaving 
his  seat  and  the  lights  being  extinguished,  with 
the  intention  of  dissolving  the  meeting,  where 
upon  loco-foco  matches  being  produced  the  lights 
were  restored  and  the  wrangling  continued. 


148  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

proposition  that  has  been  advanced  before  our 
northern  constituencies  so  abhorrent  to  these  lead 
ers  as  the  fact,  that,  upon  the  great  question — the 
only  question  in  which  politics  has  any  sense  or 
meaning  at  the  present  day,  Whigs  and  Demo 
crats  are  just  exactly  the  same  thing. 


After  the  long  season  of  speech:making  on 
Kansas,  and  when  the  tide  of  ill-feeling  ran  high, 
the  time  was  propitious  for  Mr.  Cass  and  Mr. 
Crittenden,  the  oldest  men  in  the  Senate,  to  give 
fatherly  advice  to  the  "boys,"  and  summon  them 
to  the  country's  relief,  and  imbue  them  with  the 
spirit  that  unites  States,  which  things  were  para 
mount  to  all  other  considerations  attaching  to  the 
subject,  and  wherein  they  all  seemed  to  have 
forgotten  themselves. 

Mr.  Cass:  I  have  heard  this  subject  mentioned 
repeatedly,  but  I  never  took  any  notice  of  it  be 
fore.  It  is  said  there  is  a  difference  of  construc 
tion  between  the  North  and  the  South  on  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  act.  Necessarily  it  must  be  so ; 
and  if  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Illinois 
(Mr.  Trumbull)  could  not  see  that,  he  was  not 
able  to  see  very  far  into  this  millstone. 

Those  who  believe  that  slavery  goes  to  the 
Territories  under  the  Constitution  proprio  vigore, 
of  course  believe  that  no  power  is  given  to  the 
Legislature  to  prohibit  slavery.  But  those  who 
believe,  as  I  do,  that  there  is  no  such  constitu 
tional  provision,  believe  of  course,  that  the  Ter 
ritorial  Legislature  has  the  power  to  legislate  on 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  149 

this,  as  on  any  other  subject.  The  difference  does 
not  result  from  the  words  of  that  bill,  but  from 
the  nature  of  things.  The  North  and  the  South 
construe  the  Constitution  differently.  The  South 
consider  that  the  Constitution  gives  them  the 
right  of  carrying  their  slaves  anywhere  in  the 
Territories.  If  they  are  right,  you  can  give  no 
power  to  the  Territorial  Legislature  to  interfere 
with  them.  The  major  part  of  the  North  believe 
that  the  Constitution  secures  no  such  rights  to 
the  South.  They  believe  of  course,  that  this  pow 
er  is  given  to  the  Legislature.  I  repeat  to  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Trumbull) 
there  is  nothing  equivocal  in  the  act.  The  dif 
ferent  constructions  of  it  result  from  no  equivo 
cation,  of  it,  but  from  the  fact  that  here  is  an 
important  constitutional  question  undetermined 
by  the  Supreme  Judicial  authority,  and  in  the 
mean  time  individuals  in  different  sections  of  the 
Union  put  their  own  construction  on  it.  We  are 
necessarily  brought  to  that  state  of  things.  There 
is  no  power  which  the  Senator  from  Illinois  can 
use — no  words  which  he  can  put  into  an  act  of 
Congress,  that  will  remove  the  Constitutional 
doubt  until  it  is  finally  settled  by  the  proper  trib 
unal. 

The  Senator  says  that  it  is  contended  by  many 
that  the  provisions  of  that  bill  have  reference  to 
the  power  of  the  people  when  they  are  establish 
ing  a  State  government.  Why,  sir,  when  the 
people  are  forming  a  State  government  they  do 
not  come  to  Congress  to  get  power  to  establish 
their  Constitution.  They  want  no  such  power 
from  you.  You  have  no  right  to  give  it.  All  the 


150  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

power  you  cap  exercise  on  that  point  is  to  bring 
them  together;  but  when  they  are  once  brought 
together  they  are  totally  independent  of  you. 
When  I  refer  to  the  principle  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  act,  I  mean  the  great  principle  of  the 
right  of  the  people  to  legislate  for  themselves. 
I  have  never  heard  any  man  deny  the  right  of  the 
people  of  a  State  to  allow  slavery.  I  have  heard 
a  Senator  to-day  say  that  if  a  State  came  here 
with  such  a  provision  in  her  Constitution  he 
would  not  vote  to  admit  her;  but  I  did  not  hear 
even  him  say  that  they  had  not  the  power  to  do 
it.  I  have  never  known  a  man  in  this  broad  land 
who  denied  the  power  of  the  people  of  any  State 
to  insert  in  their  Constitution  a  provision  exclud 
ing  slavery.  Then,  that  is  no  principle  of  the 
Kansas  act.  It  is  all  idle  to  talk  of  that  being 
the  principal  of  that  act.  Sir,  that  is  not  a  prin 
cipal  dependent  on  you.  It  belongs  to  the  people 
themselves.  It  is  a  portion  of  their  rights  which 
you  cannot  take  away.  It  is  not  given  by  this 
act,  nor  secured  by  this  act.  It  exists  without  the 
act. 

I  say,  again,  that  any  doubts  which  arise  upon 
that  bill  result  from  the  nature  of  things.  Wheth 
er  you  provided  that  what  they  did  should  be 
subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
or  not,  always  appeared  to  me  to  be  perfectly  im 
material  for  a  very  plain  reason.  If  you  pass  a 
legislative  act  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  it  is 
void ;  and  it  makes  no  difference  whether  or  not 
you  provide  that  it  shall  be  subject  to  the  Con 
stitution.  The  insertion  of  those  words  does  not 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  151 

strengthen  one  power.  It  does  not  create  CT  re 
move  a  doubt. 

Mr.  Hale:  I  ask  the  attention  of  the  Senator 
from  Michigan  for  a  moment.  I  have  heard 
much  about  the  "great  principal  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill."  The  Senator  from  Michigan 
says  that  great  principle  is  not  that  the  people 
have  the  power  to  introduce  or  exclude  slavery  in 
the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution.  Will  he 
be  kind  enough  to  tell  me  what  the  great  principle 
of  that  bill  is? 

Mr.  Cass:  The  honorable  gentleman  might 
have  saved  himself  that  question.  I  have  already 
said,  the  great  principle  of  that  bill  is  the  recogni 
tion  of  the  people  of  a  Territory  to  legislate  for 
themselves  over  all  subjects  not  prohibited  by  the 
Constitution.  That  act  first  embodied  these 
words  in  our  Statute  book.  That  is  all  there 
is  of  it. 

The  great  principal  of  that  pact,  in  my  opinion, 
is  the  principal  which,  on  the  24  of  December, 
1622,  your  ancestors  and  mine  adopted  the  day 
before  they  landed  at  Plymouth  beach.  As  I  ob 
served  the  other  day,  it  was  quite  a  child  then, 
but  it  grew  up  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  to  be  a 
man.  Lord  North  then — the  Senator  from  New 
Hampshire  now — calls  it  squatter  sovereignty, 
and  endeavors  to  slur  it  over;  but  let  me  tell 
him  that  it  is  not  to  be  beaten  down  by  any 
epithet.  I  call  it  the  right  of  man  to  govern 
himself. 


152  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Mr.  Crittenden.     Sir,  we  hear  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union  talked  about  as  eminently  depending 
upon  our  proceedings.    I  am  sure  it  is  as  painful 
to  many  others,  as  it  is  to  me,  to  hear  this  sort 
of  argument  in  terromem  so  frequently  applied. 
There  is  no  argument  upon  any  subject  of  con 
sequence  nowadays,  particularly  if  it  touches  the 
Constitution,  which  is  very  apt  in  our  discussions, 
to  take  place,  but  that  the  weakest,  as  well  as  the 
most  powerful  arguments,  are  always  reinforced 
by  this  sort  of  threat  or  menace  of  a  dissolution 
of  the  Union — do  this,  that,  or  the  other,  and 
the  Union  will  be   dissolved.     It  is  a  sort  of 
thunder  of  all  political  orders,  here  and  else 
where,  and  in  this  country  there  is  more  of  that 
sort  used  than  ever  Jupiter  Tonans  himself  pos 
sessed  and  used,  though,  perhaps,  with  less  effect, 
with  more  freedom  an-d  upon  smaller  occasions  a 
great  deal  than  ever  his  thunders  were.     If  he 
had  used  it  with  half  the  prodigality  that  this 
sort  of  thunder  is  used  in  our  rhetoric,  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  supply  him  with  it.     Sir, 
this  Union  is  not  that  fragile  sort  of  thing  that  is 
supposed  by  some.   I  have  an  idea  that  it  is  a  very 
powerful,    deepseated,    and    enduring    structure 
with  us.     Who  is  there  to  destroy  it?    Who  de 
sires  to  destroy  it?    The  greatest  danger  appre 
hended  by  a  number,  I  believe,  is,  that  the  ex 
treme  sensibility  of  the  North  upon  the  subject  of 
Slavery,  is  the  feeling  in  the  country  which  en 
dangers  the  value  as  well  as  the  perpetuity  of  this 
Union.    The  South  is  talked  about  as  aggressive. 
Why,  sir,  the  wolf  might  as  well  talk  about  the 
lamb  being  aggressive !    You  are  aggressive ;  you 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  153 

are  the  most  powerful  in  numbers,  the  most  pow 
erful  in  representation,  the  great  dominant  por 
tion  of  the  United  States.  As  those  relative 
proportions  are  likely  to  be  kept  up,  who  is  the 
most  likely  to  be  the  aggressor?  All  that  the 
South  desires,  is  to  possess  her  rights  in  peace. 
It  would  be  a  very  poor  policy  for  her,  by  aggres 
sion,  to  keep  up  a  continual  agitation  on  the  sub 
ject  of  Slavery.  It  is  in  reference  to  that  dan- 
generous  subject  that  she  is  particularly  solicitous 
to  keep  quiet,  and  to  keep  the  subject  quiet.  She 
does  not  doubt  her  ability  to  maintain  her  rights 
in  respect  to  it  but  she  desires  to  enjoy  those 
rights  in  fraternal  peace  with  all  the  other  parts 
of  the  Union.  Gentlemen  of  the  North  think  that 
the  South  desire  to  extend  slavery;  that  that  is 
a  predominant  feeling  in  their  hearts.  Gentlemen 
I  can  say  to  you  in  great  sincerity,  that  you  are 
entirely  mistaken  on  that  point.  That  is  not  the 
anxiety  of  the  South.  It  does  not  occupy  the 
thoughts  of  one  man  out  of  ten  thousand,  half  a 
day  in  the  year.  I  will  tell  you  what  is  the 
anxiety  of  the  South.  That  our  fellow-citizens 
consider  it  as  a  reproach  against  the  South  that 
they  hold  slaves;  that  the  North  desires  to  refuse 
to  them  their  equal  and  common  participation  in 
the  enjoyment  and  settlements  of  public  lands  of 
the  United  States,  which  they  regard  as  common 
right,  and  the  inheritance  of  all  that  is  an  incident 
of  that  common  right  for  them  to  go  there  with 
their  slaves,  as  you  go  there  with  your  property. 
This  they  consider  to  be  right  and  equitable.  If 
you  and  I  own  a  tract  of  land,  and  you  dislike 
slavery,  and  I  am  free  to  have  it,  can  you  com- 


154  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

plain  that  I  have  slaves  to  cultivate  my  part  of 
it,  while  you  prefer  white  labor  for  yours  ?  You 
will  have  no  right  to  complain.  But  I  do  not 
intend  to  argue  with  you  any  question  upon 
this  subject.  This  Union  is  a  thing  not  easily 
dissolved ;  but  I  grant  you  it  may  be  worn  into,  as 
they  say  a  constant  attrition  wears  away  a  rock, 
But  I  do  not  believe  that  that  attrition  is  to  go  on. 
I  believe  in  the  intelligence  of  the  people  of  every 
quarter  of  this  Union.  Instead  of  exaggerating 
this  question  of  slavery  in  Kansas,  and  consider 
ing  it  as  a  question  which  will  dissolve  the  Union, 
if  a  man  will  sit  down,  divest  himself  of  all  ex 
citement  on  the  subject,  and  look  at  it,  and  ask 
himself  of  what  consequence  it  is  to  me,  and  to 
this  great  Republic  of  thirty-one  States,  soon  to 
be  many  more,  whether  Kansas  is  admitted  as  a 
free  State  or  a  Slave  State,  in  that  point  of  view 
it  is  a  question  of  much  less  importance  than  we 
regard  it,  or  as  it  regards  any  national  interest. 
Let  the  people  of  Kansas  decide  this  question 
of  slavery  for  themselves ;  let  them  decide  it  free 
ly  and  fairly;  let  there  be  no  invasion  of  their 
rights ;  allow  no  one  to  be  driven  from  the  polls ; 
give  them  a  fair  election  and  that  at  any  period 
of  time  in  the  future  which  may  be  thought  best 
to  suit  the  free  expression  of  their  will ;  wait  un 
til  the  time  shall  come,  until  the  means  of  protec 
tion  in  the  exercise  of  the  right  shall  be  seen  to 
be  sound  and  effectual,  and  until  there  shall  be  a 
population  there  competent  to  form  a  State,  and 
competent  to  decide  this  great  question.  Talk 
about  Squatter  Sovereignty!  If  this  Topeka 
Convention  is  not  the  most  illustrious  case  of  it 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  153 

ever  seen,  I  am  mistaken.  Before  squatter 
sovereignty  was  confined  by  our  own  laws,  and 
a  sense  of  right,  but  here,  constitution-making  is 
to  be  governed  by  squatter  sovereignty.  I  do  not 
believe  in  it  all.  There  is  a  people  of  the  United 
States.  That  is  my  sovereignty.  This  Territory 
belongs  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and 
we  are  here  to  preserve  and  maintain  that  sover 
eignty  and  that  dominion.  The  lands  are  ours. 
The  people  are  there  by  our  permission,  and  not 
otherwise.  The  people  are  there  with  such  polit 
ical  rights  as  we  under  the  Constitution,  may  ex 
tend  to  them,  and  no  more.  That  is  my  view  of 
that  question.  Sir,  I  have  said  more  already  than 
I  intended  to  say  upon  the  subject.  I  wish  the 
Union  to  be  preserved.  I  wish  it  to  be  preserved 
in  its  spirit.  I  wish  to  preserve  it  by  the  love  and 
affection  of  every  section  of  the  country,  not  only 
for  their  constitution  but  for  one  another,  and  a 
man  reproaching  his  fellow-citizens  for  holding 
this  or  that  description  of  property,  sanctioned 
and  authorized  by  law.  Ours  is  a  political  con 
nection.  Ours  is  a  political  compact;  and  that 
instrument  settles  all  our  rights  of  property  and 
we  ought  to  be  content  to  abide  by  that  compact 
in  its  spirit,  and  not  undertake  to  confine  it  be 
cause  we  chose  to  nurture  in  our  bosoms  a  particu 
lar  sensibility  about  this,  that,  or  the  other  theory 
in  regard  to  property  authorized  by  the  Constitu 
tion.  These  things  ought  to  be  wiped  away  in  or 
der  to  give  full  sway  for  American  feeling  and 
the  union  of  the  American  heart.  For  my  single 
self,  I,  and  I  will  say  for  my  constituents  also,  we 
stand  by  the  Union.  That  is  our  place — There 


156  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

we  stand  and  there  we  will  stand.  We  will 
maintain  to  the  last.  We  shall  expect  our  rights 
to  be  respected.  We  desire  to  live  in  the  bonds 
of  amity  as  well  as  in  the  bonds  of  Constitutional 
law.  The  portion  of  the  Union  holding  slaves  is 
not  the  aggressive  portion  of  the  Union.  The 
very  statement  of  the  case  would  show  that  it 
cannot  be,  and  it  is  the  greatest  folly  upon  earth, 
a  perfect  fatuity,  to  say  it.  They  want  security. 
That  is  what  they  desire.  They  are  not  in  the 
attitude  of  aggression.  They  are  in  the  attitude  of 
a  party  upon  which  aggression  is  to  be  made,  and 
who  may  have  cause  to  fear  it.  They  want  no 
controversy  whatever  with  their  fellow-citizens 
of  any  section  of  the  Union.  This  is  all  that  I 
have  to  say,  the  result  of  it  all  is,  that  the  remedy 
proposed  by  the  gentleman  from  New  York  is  an 
impracticable  one,  it  is  unreasonable  as  I  think, 
and  ought  not  to  be  passed.  It  is  dangerous,  im 
proper,  and  unreasonable,  and  cannot  therefore 
be  passed,  but  if  the  gentleman  will,  because  his 
favored  measure  cannot  be  passed,  refuse  all  re 
lief  to  Kansas  he  must  bear  the  evils  upon  her. 
She  is  remediless  .  .  .  and  so  far  as  regards 
the  votes  of  those  gentlemen  who  may  take  that 
position,  I  think  they  are  unjustified  by  true  pol 
icy  or  by  a  true  sense  of  duty,  however  they  may 
regard  it  in  taking  such  a  ground. 


It  was  after  this  that  Judge  Clayton  delivered 
a  great  speech  in  advocacy  of  compromise 
measures. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  157 


XVIII. 
CLAYTON:  SCHOLAR  AND  STATESMAN. 

Senator  Bayard  (James  A.  Bayard  of  Dela 
ware),  declared  that  he  did  not  believe  a  jury 
lawyer  superior  to  Clayton  had  ever  lived  in  this 
country.  In  the  court-room,  with  his  full  powers 
exerted  toward  winning  his  case,  he  was  grand. 
Personal  attractiveness  and  intellectual  endow 
ments,  counter-balanced  by  a  tall,  commanding 
figure  and  fine  countenance,  made  him  a  counsel 
without  rival,  and  one  much  sought  after.  He 
was  first  elected  to  the  Senate  from  Delaware,  in 
1829,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three;  and  was  the 
youngest  member  of  that  body.  Being  a  Yale 
graduate  and  a  scholar  of  high  attainments,  he 
became  an  impressive  speaker  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate,  employing  elegant  and  forceful  language, 
delivered  in  an  easy,  graceful  style.  His  career 
was  distinguished  throughout;  his  statesmanship 
was  of  international  renown,  and  the  State  of 
Delaware  bestowed  upon  him  every  honor  within 
her  gift. 

President  Taylor,  recognizing  his  fitness  for 
high  place,  induced  him  to  accept  the  portfolio  of 
State  in  his  cabinet,  which  post  he  graced  with 
pronounced  ability;  but  upon  the  death  of  the 
president,  Mr.  Clayton  retired  from  publice  life. 


158  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

Having  negotiated  the  famous  Clayton-Bul- 
wer  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  an  attack  upon 
it  in  the  Senate  in  1853,  aroused  the  people  of 
Delaware  to  such  a  pitch,  that  both  houses  of 
the  Legislature  met  at  once  and  returned  him  to 
his  old  seat,  that  he  might  meet  his  assailants 
upon  equal  ground.  He  remained  a  member  un 
til  1856,  when  he  passed  away  quietly  at  his  home. 

With  his  keen  sense  of  penetration,  he  foresaw 
the  difficulties  that  later  arose  over  Kansas  affairs, 
and  in  July  1856,  spoke  upon  the  question  and 
revolved  it,  so  to  speak,  in  the  light  of  compro 
mise. 

Mr.  Clayton:  Mr.  President,  as  I  now  find  a 
large  majority  of  the  Senate  present,  I  must  be 
pardoned  for  addressing  them  on  the  topics  con 
nected  with  this  bill.  I  feel  deep  anxiety  on  these 
subjects.  I  have  never  known  a  period,  from  the 
first  day  I  entered  this  Hall  when  I  thought  the 
country  is  in  so  much  danger  as  I  believe  it  to 
be  at  the  present  moment.  It  is  my  most  anxious 
desire  to  offer  whatever  I  can  to  gentlemen  on 
both  sides  of  the  Chamber,  to  induce  them  to 
compromise  the  differences  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sections  of  the  country.  "Compro 
mise"!  Alas,  sir,  this  day  I  have  heard  that 
word,  which  always  heretofore  dear  to  every  true 
American  statesman  spoken  of  with  contumely 
and  contempt.  I  have  been  this  day  told  the 
period  for  compromising  is  passed.  Sir,  if  the 
period  for  compromising  is  passed,  this  Repub 
lic  will  soon  pass  away  with  it.  The  Constitution 
of  this  country  itself  was  but  a  compromise.  We 
have  been  told  by  the  fathers  of  the  country  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  159 

no  one  man  came  out  of  the  Convention  which 
formed  the  Constitution,  who  had  not  opposition 
to  some  section  or  clause  in  it.  Sir,  the  whole 
world  is  full  of  compromises,  and  chaos  would 
come  again  without  them.  Every  law  we  pass  is 
but  a  compromise.  No  man  in  civil  society — no 
man  even  in  a  despotic  government,  has  ever  yet 
been  permitted  to  have  his  own  way.  No  man 
in  this  Nation,  not  even  the  "Father  of  his  Coun 
try/'  was  ever  permitted  to  dictate  his  own  terms 
in  every  particular  in  the  passage  of  any  measure 
in  Congress  or  Convention.  We  vote  every  day 
for  some  measure,  to  some  portion  of  which  we 
have  objections ;  but  we  vote  on  every  proposition 
in  view,  and  are  governed  by  the  consideration  of 
the  good  to  be  derived  from  the  whole  of  it. 
Every  treaty  made  between  two  nations  is  but  a 
compromise.  Men  could  not  live  together  in  civil 
society,  they  could  not  associate  in  public  or  priv 
ate  life,  without  compromising  every  day ;  and  if 
we  have  arrived  at  the  determination  that  we  will 
never  again  compromise,  we  may  as  well  throw 
our  Constitution  to  the  winds,  and  consider  the 
Republic  at  an  end. 

Sir,  I  hope  the  honorable  gentlemen  from  New 
York  and  Massachusetts  will  yet  take  the  true 
and  only  legitimate  and  proper  view  of  the  ques 
tion  which  is  now  really  before  us.  They  say, 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  though  I  know 
nothing  officially  of  the  facts,  I  mean  now  to 
admit,  that  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Kansas 
was  elected  by  the  people  of  Missouri,  they  say 
that,  out  of  six  thousand,  two  hundred  votes,  four 
thousand  nine  hundred  were  from  that  State,  and 


160  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

one  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty  from  the 
Territory  itself.  Now  grant  all  that,  yet  does  it 
follow  as  a  legal  influence  or  as  a  fair  and  just 
one,  that  you  must  for  that  reason  strike  out  of 
existence  all  the  laws  passed  by  that  Legislature  ? 
You  say  the  Legislative  authority  in  Kansas  was 
a  rank  usurpation.  Grant  it. 

What  has  been  the  rule  that  has  governed  those 
ancestors  from  whom  we  have  derived  not  only 
our  descent,  but  our  common  law,  and  all  those 
great  fundamental  principles  upon  which  we  have 
built  up  our  own  government?  What  has  been 
the  rule  in  our  own  country,  as  well  as  in  Eng 
land,  in  regard  to  laws  passed  by  bodies  usurping 
power,  or  whose  power  had  been  subverted  ?  Go 
back  even  to  the  time  when  the  Normans  con 
quered  the  Saxon,  and  produced  and  entire  revo 
lution  in  England.  When  the  Plantagenets 
ascended  the  throne  of  England,  were  all  the 
Anglo-Saxon  laws  abolished,  and  swept  away? 
Not  at  all.  They  were  reformed,  but  their  au 
thority  as  laws  was  solemnly  recognized  and  con 
firmed.  The  historian  informs  us  that  "the 
States  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Kings,  with  the 
provincial  customs,  were  acknowledged  and  re 
peatedly  confirmed." 

When  the  Plantagenets  ceased  to  exist — when 
Richard  the  III.  fell  upon  the  field  of  Bosworth, 
a  id  the  Tudors  came  into  power,  did  they,  though 
they  considered  Richard  a  usurper,  for  that  rea 
son  abolish  all  the  laws  he  had  made?  On  the 
contrary,  did  they  not  continue  all  the  just  laws 
of  that  and  other  reigns,  although  the  govern 
ment  of  the  New  King  was  predicted  upon  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  161 

belief  that  the  reign  of  Richard  was  a  usurpation 
from  the  commencement  to  the  close  of  it?  Com 
ing  down,  then,  in  the  history  of  England  to  the 
days  when  the  Stuarts  were  first  driven  from  the 
throne  for  ursurpation  and  tyranny;  when 
Charles  the  I.  was  beheaded ;  when  Oliver  Crom 
well  succeeded  him  though  that  government  was 
treated  as  a  tyranny.  Yet  did  they  abolish  all 
the  laws  made  during  that  tyranny  ?  Take  a  still 
stronger  and  plainer  case,  and  more  analogous,  if 
you  choose;  when  Cromwell  died,  Charles  II. 
succeeded  him,  did  those  who  had  considered  the 
government  of  Cromwell  as  a  sheer  usurpation, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  it,  abolish  all 
the  laws  passed  in  the  days  of  the  Protectorate? 
Though  Cromwell  was,  at  the  time,  universally 
denounced  as  a  traitor  and  usurper,  and  his  dead 
body  was  disinterred,  suspended  on  a  gibbet,  and 
then  buried  at  the  foot  of  it,  no  one  offered  to 
abolish  all  the  laws  enacted  during  the  Protector 
ate.  And  such  has  been  the  result  of  every  revo 
lution  in  England.  In  1688,  another  revolution 
occurred.  A  more  abhorred  tyrant  was  never 
driven  from  a  throne  than  the  last  of  the  Stuarts.1 
Yet  all  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  his  reign  were 
not  swept  away.  When  the  American  Colonies 
achieved  their  independence,  their  revolution  wasj 
not  followed  by  the  abrogation  of  all  laws  which 
had  been  enacted  during  the  existence  of  the 
British  domination.  The  rule  among  nations  and 
statesmen  is,  when  laws  considered  salutary  and 
useful  to  society  have  been  passed  by  a  usurper  or 
tyrant,  instead  of  what  is  now  claimed,  that  the 
legitimate  consequence  of  the  usurpation  or 


1  62  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


tyranny  is  the  abrogation  of  all  the  laws,  the  just 
consequence  is,  a  repeal  of  all  the  unjust  and 
oppressive  laws,  and  a  retention  of  all  that  are 
just  and  salutary.  Suffer  all  to  stand  that  are 
deemed  by  you  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  public, 
and  reform  those  that  you  consider  unjust, 
oppressive,  or  inexpedient.  Sir,  that  is  the  true 
principle  by  which  we  should  be  guided  and  gov 
erned  now. 

I  cannot,  therefore,  concur  with  the  honorable 
gentlemen  from  Massachusetts  and  New  York  in 
abrogating  all  the  laws  of  Kansas.  If  they  should 
prove  by  thousands  of  witnesses,  that  the  Legis 
lative  Council  was  elected  exclusively  by  Missou- 
rians,  and  that  there  was  not  a  single  inhabitant 
of  Kansas  at  the  election,  still,  for  the  good  of 
the  whole  country  and  especially  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people  of  the  Territory,  we  must  suffer 
those  laws  that  are  for  the  public  good  to  remain. 
Otherwise  we  abandon  all  precedents,  and  disre 
gard  all  the  wisdom  of  our  British  ancestors  and 
of  our  own  fathers  and  leave  the  Territory  in 
Anarchy. 


The  reader  having  followed  the  course  of 
reminiscence  to  this  page,  it  now  falls  upon  me 
to  speak  to  him  between  the  lines.  He  has  con 
scientiously  pushed  back  the  hands  of  the  clock 
until  they  bespoke  the  time  of  our  narrative ;  and 
as  the  characters,  plaintively  recalling  almost  for 
gotten  days,  entered  upon  the  stage,  the  touch  as 
of  a  magic  hand  seemed  to  bring  enchantment 
over  all  the  surroundings,  and  he  began  to 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  163 

breathe  the  atmosphere  of  a  departed  age.  How 
agreeable  was  that  old  time,  when  men  were  not 
so  swiftly  pursuing  wealth  as  now,  and  more  time 
was  given  to  the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of 
things  upon  which  lofty  sentiment  was  built.  It 
was  an  age  when  high  value  was  placed  upon 
merit  whenever  found,  and  men  were  chosen 
where  now  other  natures  force  their  way.  So 
many  things  were  different  in  the  political  arena. 
The  party  issues  were  clear,  then,  and  party  lines 
sharply  drawn.  There  is  an  anecdote  which 
illustrates  how  strong  was  the  feeling  down  in 
East  Tennessee.  William  G.  Browlow,  the 
"Fighting  Parson"  was  a  Whig,  and  "old 
Father  Aiken/'  an  eccentric  Methodist  preacher, 
a  Democrat.  The  two  attended  a  camp  meeting; 
Browlow  preached,  and  Aiken  offered  prayer. 
In  the  prayer  Aiken  besought  the  Lord  to  for 
give  the  sins  of  the  people,  to  deliver  them  from 
every  evil.  "O  Lord,"  he  prayed,  "deliver  us 
from  Whiggery."  "God,  forbid!"  shouted 
Browlow.  Turning  to  him,  Aiken  said,  "Billy, 
keep  still  when  I  am  praying." 

The  Whig  party  had  about  dissolved  in  1856. 
There  were  but  two  members  of  it  in  the  Senate, 
namely,  Crittenden  and  Bell.  These  two  political 
orphans,  never  allied  themselves  to  either  the 
Democrats  or  Republicans. 


164  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XIX. 

THE   LECOMPTON   SWINDLE. 

One  evening  in  March,  1858,  the  Senate 
Chamber  was  brilliantly  illuminated,  the  galler 
ies  overflowed  with  the  tide  of  crinoline,  silk, 
and  satin ;  the  array  of  the  beauty  and  fashion  of 
the  Capitol  was  of  a  festal  order,  for  word  had 
gone  forth  that  "Douglas  speaks  to-night,"  and 
Douglas  was  the  idol  of  the  day.  "The  Little 
Giant"  came  in  a  moment  or  two  before  7 
o'clock,  and  proceeding  to  his  seat  was  greeted 
by  an  outburst  of  wildest  applause. 

In  his  speech  this  night  he  was  going  to  an 
tagonize  the  President.  It  was  a  hard  fight  he 
was  having  with  this  bill,  and  all  his  energies 
were  being  put  to  the  severest  test.  The  con 
stitution  of  Kansas  which  had  been  drafted  at 
Lecompton,  and  under  which  the  State  would 
have  entered  the  Union  with  the  "shackles  of 
slavery,"  had  been  rejected  by  a  popular  vote  in 
the  Territory,  as  it  did  not  embody  the  will  of 
the  people.  President  Buchanan,  following  the 
course  of  his  predecessor  Pierce,  yielded  to  the 
pro-slavery  contestants,  and  supported  this  Le 
compton  act,  which  was  a  fraud,  pure  and  simple. 

With  all  the  vehemence,  disdain,  and  boldness, 
of  his  style,  and  all  the  fire  of  his  soul,  Douglas, 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  165 

the  Demosthenes,  making  the  ablest  effort  of  his 
life,  aroused  the  throng  that  filled  all  available 
space,  to  continued  and  uncontrollable  enthusi 
asm.  After  a  brief  review  of  his  career  in 
Congress,  he  touched  upon  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  then  assailed  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
as  being  contrary  to  the  wish  of  the  people  of 
Kansas,  and  finally  referred  to  the  Executive  in 
fluence  brought  to  bear.  His  tones  rang  clear 
like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet,  and  he  showed  no 
fatigue  at  any  period.  A  portion  of  his  speech 
follows : 

"Sirs, — I  do  not  recognize  the  right  of  the 
President  or  his  Cabinet,  no  matter  what  my 
respect  may  be  for  them,  to  tell  me  my  duty  in 
the  Senate  Chamber.  The  President  has  his 
duty  to  perform  under  the  Constitution;  and  he 
is  responsible  to  his  constituency.  A  Senator 
has  his  duties  to  perform  here  under  the  Con 
stitution  and  according  to  his  oath;  and  he  is 
responsible  to  the  Sovereign  State  which  he 
represents  as  his  constituency.  A  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  has  his  duties  under 
the  Constitution  and  his  oath;  and  he  is  respon 
sible  to  the  people  that  elected  him. 

The  President  has  no  more  right  to  prescribe 
tests  to  Senators  than  Senators  have  to  the 
President.  Suppose  we  here  should  attempt  to 
prescribe  a  test  of  faith  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States;  would  he  not  rebuke  our  im 
pertinence  and  imprudence  as  subversive  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  Constitution? 
Would  he  not  tell  us  that  the  Constitution  and 
his  oath  and  his  conscience  were  his  guide;  that 


1 66          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

we  must  perform  our  duties,  and  he  would  per 
form  his,  and  let  each  be  responsible  to  his  own 
constituency?  Sir?  Whenever  the  time  comes 
that  the  President  of  the  United  States  can 
change  the  allegiance  of  the  Senators  from  the 
State  to  himself,  what  becomes  of  the  Sov 
ereignty  of  the  States?  When  the  time  comes 
that  a  Senator  is  to  account  to  the  Executive 
and  not  to  his  State,  whom  does  he  represent? 
If  the  will  of  my  State  is  one  way,  and  the  will 
of  the  President  is  the  other,  am  I  to  be  told  that 
I  must  obey  the  Executive  and  betray  my  State, 
or  else  be  branded  as  a  traitor  to  the  party,  and 
be  hunted  down  by  all  the  newspapers  that  share 
the  patronage  of  the  Government  and  every  man 
who  holds  a  petty  office  in  any  part  of  my  State 
to  have  the  question  put  to  him,  "Are  you 
Douglas'  enemy?"  if  not,  "your  head  comes  off." 
Why?  "Because  he  is  a  recreant  Senator;  be 
cause  he  chooses  to  follow  his  judgment  and  his 
conscience,  and  represent  his  State  instead  of 
obeying  my  executive  request."  I  should  like 
to  know  what  is  the  use  of  Congress,  what  is  the 
use  of  Senates  and  Houses  of  Representatives, 
when  their  highest  duty  is  to  obey  the  Executive 
in  disregard  of  the  wishes,  rights  and  honor  of 
their  constituents.  What  despotism  on  earth 
would  be  equal  to  this,  if  you  establish  the  doc 
trine  that  the  Executive  has  a  right  to  command 
the  votes,  the  consciences,  the  judgments  of  the 
Senators  and  of  the  Representatives,  instead  of 
their  constituents?  In  Old  England,  whose 
oppressions  we  thought  intolerable,  an  Admin 
istration  is  hurled  from  power  in  an  hour  when 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  167 

voted  down  by  the  representatives  of  the  people 
on  a  Government  measure.  If  the  rule  of  Old 
England  applied  here,  this  Cabinet  would  have 
gone  out  of  office  when  the  Army  bill  was  voted 
down,  the  other  day,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  There,  in  that  monarchical  country, 
where  they  have  a  Queen  by  divine  right,  and 
lords  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  wnere  repub 
licanism  is  supposed  to  have  but  a  slight  foot 
hold,  the  representatives  of  the  people  can  check 
the  Throne,  restrain  the  Government  and  change 
the  Ministry,  and  give  a  new  direction  to  the 
policy  of  the  Government,  without  being  ac 
countable  to  the  King  or  the  Queen.  There  the 
representatives  of  the  people  are  responsible  to 
their  constituents.  Across  the  Channel,  under 
Louis  Napoleon,  it  may  be  otherwise;  yet  I 
doubt  whether  it  would  be  so  boldly  proclaimed 
there  that  a  man  is  a  traitor  for  claiming  to  vote 
according  to  his  sense  of  duty,  according  to  the 
will  of  his  State,  according  to  the  interests  of 

his  constituents 

Is  it  seriously  intended  to  brand  every  Demo 
crat  in  the  United  States  as  a  traitor  who  is 
opposed  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution?  If  so, 
do  your  friends  in  Pennsylvania  desire  any 
traitors  to  vote  with  them  next  fall?  We  are 
traitors  if  we  vote  against  Lecompton;  our  con 
stituents  are  traitors  if  they  do  not  think  Le 
compton  is  right;  and  yet  you  expect  those 
whom  you  call  traitors  to  vote  with  and  sustain 
you?  Are  you  to  read  out  of  the  party  every 
man  who  thinks  it  wrong  to  force  a  constitu 
tion  on  a  people  against  their  will?  If  so,  what 


1 68  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

will  be  the  size  of  the  Administration  party  in 
New  York?  what  will  it  be  in  Pennsylvania? 
how  many  will  it  number  in  Ohio,  or  in 
Indiana,  or  in  Illinois,  or  in  any  other  northern 
State  ?  Surely  you  do  not  expect  the  support  of 
those  whom  you  brand  as  renegades!  Would  it 
not  be  well  to  allow  all  freemen,  freedom  of 
thought,  freedom  of  speech,  and  freedom  of 
action  ?  Would  it  not  be  well  to  allow  each  Sen 
ator  and  Representative  to  vote  according  to  his 
judgment,  and  perform  his  duty  according  to  his 
own  sense  of  his  obligation  to  himself,  and  to 
his  State,  and  to  his  God? 

For  my  own  part,  Mr.  President,  come  what 
may,  I  intend  to  vote,  speak  and  act,  according 
to  my  own  sense  of  duty,  so  long  as  I  hold  a  seat 
in  this  Chamber.  I  have  no  defense  to  make  of 
my  Democracy.  I  have  no  profession  to  make 
of  my  fidelity.  I  have  no  vindication  to  make 
of  my  course.  Let  it  speak  for  itself. 

The  insinuations  that  I  am  acting  with  the 
Republicans,  or  Americans,  has  no  tenor  and 
will  not  drive  me  from  my  duty  or  propriety.  It 
is  an  argument  for  which  I  have  no  respect. 
When  I  saw  the  Senator  from  Virginia  acting 
with  the  Republicans  on  the  neutrality  laws,  in 
support  of  the  President,  I  did  not  feel  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  taunt  him  with  voting  with  those  to 
whom  he  happened  to  be  opposed  in  general 
politics.  When  I  saw  the  Senator  from  Georgia 
acting  with  the  Republicans  upon  the  Army  bill, 
it  did  not  impair  my  confidence  in  his  fidelty  to 
principle.  When  I  see  Senators  here  every  day 
acting  with  the  Republicans  on  various  ques- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  169 

tions,  it  only  shows  me  that  they  have  indepen 
dence  and  self-respect  enough  to  go  according 
to  their  own  convictions  of  duty  without  being 
influenced  by  the  course  of  others.  I  have  no 
professions  to  make  on  any  of  these  points.  I 
intend  to  perform  my  duty  in  accordance  with 
my  own  convictions.  Neither  the  frowns  of 
power  nor  the  influence  of  patronage  will  change 
my  action,  or  drive  me  from  my  principles.  I 
stand  firmly,  immovably  upon  those  great  prin 
ciples  of  self-government  and  State  Sovereignty, 
upon  which  the  campaign  was  fought  and  the 
election  won.  I  stand  by  the  time-honored 
principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  illustrated  by 
Jefferson  and  Jackson ;  those  principles  of  State 
rights,  of  State  Sovereignty,  of  strict  construc 
tion,  on  which  the  great  Democratic  party  has 
ever  stood.  I  will  stand  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  with  all  its  compromises,  and 
perform  all  my  obligations  under  it.  I  will 
stand  by  the  American  Union  as  it  exists  under 
the  Constitution.  If  standing  firmly  by  my 
principles,  I  shall  be  driven  into  private  life,  it 
is  a  fate  that  has  no  terrors  for  me.  I  prefer 
private  life,  preserving  my  own  self-respect  and 
manhood,  to  abject  and  servile  submission  to 
executive  will.  I  am  prepared  to  retire.  Official 
position  has  no  charms  for  me  when  deprived  of 
that  freedom  of  thought  and  action  which  a 
gentleman  and  Senator  should  have. 

Mr.  President, — I  owe  an  apology  to  the  Sen 
ate  for  the  desultory  manner  in  which  I  have 
discussed  this  question.  My  health  has  been  so 
feeble  for  some  time  past,  that  I  have  not  been 


170          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

able  to  arrange  my  thoughts  or  the  order  in 
which  they  should  be  presented.  If,  in  the  heat 
of  debate  I  have  expressed  a  sentiment  which 
would  seem  to  be  unkind  or  disrespectful  to  any 
Senator,  I  shall  regret  it.  While  I  intend  to 
maintain,  firmly  and  fearlessly,  my  own  views, 
far  be  it  from  me  to  impugn  the  motives  or 
question  the  propriety  of  the  action  of  any  other 
Senator.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  each  Senator 
will  obey  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  and 
will  be  accountable  to  his  constituents  for  the 
course  he  may  think  proper  to  pursue. 


The  Lecompton  meeting  resulted  in  a  fraud 
constitution,  and  the  State  of  Kansas  would 
have  become  a  fact  by  the  vote  of  33  as  against 
25,  in  the  United  States  Senate;  but  the  bill 
failed  of  passage  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  therefore,  it  was  not  until  later,  in  the 
year  1861,  that  Kansas  was  admitted  to  the 
Union,  and  then  it  was  upon  a  structure  exclud 
ing  slavery.  It  was  a  matter  of  much  gratifica 
tion  to  the  northern  men  (Republicans)  that 
Douglas  voted  steadily  with  them  against  the 
admission  of  the  State  under  the  Lecompton  act. 

Before  the  question  was  put  to  a  vote  there 
was  much  delay,  and  this  delay  brought  some 
very  apt  remarks  from  the  witty  Mr.  Hale,  who 
said: 

We  all  know  what  to-morrow  means  legisla 
tively.  I  remember  when  I  first  came  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  a  good  while  ago,  a 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  171 

motion  was  introduced,  and  some  gentlemen 
moved  to  postpone  it  until  to-morrow.  It  was 
a  new  member  who  had  made  the  motion,  and 
he  objected.  An  old  member  sat  by  him,  and 
said  it  was  only  until  to-morrow.  The  young 
man  gave  up,  and  that  to-morrow  he  did  not 
reach  for  three  months.  The  proposition  here 
is  to  postpone  this  matter  until  to-morrow. 

Mr.  Green:  Will  the  Senator  permit  me  to 
ask  him  if  it  is  in  that  view  that  he  moves  to 
postpone  the  Minnesota  bill  until  to-morrow? 
(Laughter). 

Mr.  Hale:  I  do  not  move  to  postpone  it  to 
any  particular  time,  but  to  put  it  aside  for  the 
purpose  of  deciding  this  question.  I  want  to 
follow  the  organ  of  the  Committee  on  Territories 
as  far  as  I  can  with  safety;  and  I  do  not  know 
that  that  would  be  a  great  way.  (Laughter). 
His  zeal  seemed  to  be  to  hurry  up  Kansas,  so 
that  Minnesota  should  not  overtake  her;  now  it 
seems  that  they  have  got  Kansas  along  to  such 
a  place  that  they  have  concluded  to  put  her  up 
to  the  stall,  and  let  her  stand  until  Minnesota 
comes  up  and  goes  ahead.  I  object  to  it.  I  feel 
just  as  patriotic  now  as  I  did  last  Thursday. 
There  has  been  no  change  in  me;  none  at  all.  I 
feel  just  as  desirous  to  do  justice  to  Kansas  now 
as  I  did  then.  If  there  are  any  reasons — any 
particular  reasons  of  a  public  character — let 
them  be  stated ;  and  if  there  are  any  of  a  private 
character  I  should  like  to  hear  them.  I  would 
not  call  any  man  to  order  if  he  should  state 
private  reasons.  I  would  not  object  to  any  man 
saying  something  like  this  if  he  chose:  "There 


172          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

are  some  arguments  that  I  want  to  address  to 
some  members  of  the  House,  that  it  will  not  do 
to  address  in  open  debate ;  and  I  want  the  thing 
kept  open  until  I  can  have  an  opportunity  of 
talking  privately  with  some  gentlemen  and  press 
ing  upon  their  private  ear  some  considerations 
which  are  not  proper  or  not  expedient  to  be  ad 
dressed  in  open  debate."  We  all  know,  or  per 
haps  we  do  not  all  know  it,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that 
it  is  a  part  of  the  discipline  of  some  churches, 
when  there  is  a  recusant  member,  to  go  out  with 
him  privately,  before  they  can  take  public  steps; 
to  give  private  admonition  before  public  censure 
comes;  and  I  would  not  object  if  anything  of 
that  sort  were  in  the  way;  but  I  think  we  owe 
it  to  the  country,  we  owe  it  to  ourselves,  we  owe 
it  to  our  reputation,  to  assign  some  plausible 
reason  why  we  have  got  over  the  haste  that 
impeded  us  forward  last  week.  What  new 
feature  is  there?  The  news  of  the  Connecticut 
election,  of  course,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it — 
not  the  slightest — (Laughter).  What  possible 
object  can  there  be  in  postponing,  from  day  to 
day,  a  subject  about  which  we  were  in  such  hot 
haste  a  little  while  ago?  Why,  sir,  a  few  weeks 
ago  we  were  in  such  a  hurry  to  dispose  of 
Kansas  that  we  had  to  sit  up  here  until  morning 
light;  until  six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Mr.  Fessenden.  The  business  was  pressing  at 
that  time? 

Mr.  Hale.  Yes,  sir,  public  business  was  press 
ing  then;  and  it  has  been  pressing  up  to  a 
certain  point,  and  I  should  like  to  know  where 
is  the  point,  and  what  is  the  occasion?  It  used 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  173 

to  be  a  maxim  of  the  old  philosophers  that  the 
atmospheric  pressure  would  sustain  a  hydraulic 
column  of  thirty-three  feet;  and  it  puzzled  the 
philosophers  to  tell  why  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  would  sustain  a  hydraulic  column  of 
thirty-three  feet  and  would  not  sustain  it  any 
higher.  The  reason  assigned  was,  That  Nature 
abhorred  a  vacuum,  but  when  it  got  up  to  thirty- 
three  feet  she  ceased  to  abhor  a  vacuum. 
(Laughter.)  Now,  sir,  have  we  got  to  that  point 
where  we  cease  to  abhor  a  vacuum  in  legisla 
tion? 


174          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XX. 

THE  ADVERSARY  OF  DOUGLAS. 

When  the  news  reached  the  Capitol  that 
James  S.  Green,  of  Missouri,  had  been  elected  to 
the  Senate,  a  Missouri  representative  in  the 
House  said,  "'The  Little  Giant'  will  meet  his 
match  now."  Green  knew  more  law  than  nine- 
tenths  of  the  men  who  came  to  the  Senate.  His 
speeches  were  bristling  with  legal  points,  and  as 
a  debater  he  was  a  foeman  to  be  feared.  He 
was  a  tall,  gaunt  man,  rather  awkward  withal, 
with  a  countenance  that  showed  him  to  be  a 
thinker.  He  was  droll  in  his  way,  and  had  a 
habit  of  dwelling  upon  the  word  "and"  with  his 
long  finger  extended,  giving  a  peculiar  emphasis 
to  the  remainder  of  the  sentence. 

He  soon  began  the  attack  on  Mr.  Douglas,  and 
in  December,  1857,  delivered  a  speech  with  a 
facility  of  argument  that  displayed  strength  and 
skill,  equal  to  that  of  some  of  the  best  among 
his  hearers. 

Mr.  Green:  Mr.  President,  when  on  Wed 
nesday  last,  the  honorable  Senator  from  Illinois 
(Mr.  Douglas)  addressed  the  Senate,  I  was 
completely  taken  by  surprise.  I  was  surprised 
not  only  that  he  should  have  made  his  remarks 
at  that  time,  but  I  was  still  more  surprised  at 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  175 

the  manner  and  the  matter  of  the  speech.  He 
himself  stated,  if  I  recollect  correctly,  that  the 
President  had  made  no  recommendation  on  the 
subject  of  Kansas.  It  is  a  fact  known  by  us 
all  that  no  application  on  the  part  of  Kansas  was 
before  Congress  in  any  shape.  If  therefore, 
there  was  neither  an  Executive  recommendation 
nor  an  application  upon  the  part  of  Kansas 
wherefore  should  the  subject  have  been  thrust 
on  the  attention  of  the  country?  When  practical 
action  is  required  on  the  part  of  Senators,  the 
views  of  Senators  are  expected  to  be  elicited; 
but  when  neither  an  Executive  recommendation 
required  any  practical  action,  nor  any  applica 
tion  on  the  part  of  Kansas  had  been  made,  it 
seemed  to  be  most  extraordinary  that  we  should 
be  compelled  to  engage  in  an  abstract  discussion 
with  no  reference  to  practical  results.  It  is  not 
my  purpose  to  inquire  into  the  motive  of  the 
honorable  Senator.  I  am  willing  to  concede,  as 
I  do,  that  it  was  patriotic;  but  I  must  think  it 
very  improper.  It  was  well  calculated  to  preju 
dice  the  question  now  pending  before  the  people 
of  Kansas. 

An  election  is  to  be  held  on  the  2ist  of  this 
month,  and  the  public  mind  was  prepared  to  see 
the  people  go  forward  and  express  their  prefer 
ences  for  and  against,  as  the  question  may  be 
presented  to  them;  but  his  speech  going  as  a 
counter  manifesto  to  the  just  and  fair  message 
of  the  Executive  of  this  Government,  is  well 
calculated,  though  no  doubt  not  designed,  to 
prejudice  that  question  before  the  people  of 
Kansas,  as  well  as  before  the  people  of  the 


176  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

country.  But,  sir,  whether  the  question  has 
rightfully  or  wrongfully  brought  up  for  consid 
eration,  it  is  now  before  us ;  and  justice  to  the 
Executive,  justice  to  the  question  itself,  justice 
to  the  people  of  Kansas,  and  justice  to  my  own 
State,  which  cannot  fail  to  feel  a  deep  interest 
in  the  proper  adjustment  and  final  settlement  of 
the  question,  require  that  I  should  meet,  and,  as 
far  as  I  may  be  able,  counteract  the  positions 
assumed  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Illinois. 

The  honorable  Senator  from  Illinois  sets  out 
with  imputing  to  the  President  a  "fundamental 
error."  Before  we  can  discuss  we  must  have 
the  issue  presented.  Before  our  arguments  can 
have  a  practical  bearing  on  the  question  before 
the  Senate,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  under 
stand  what  that  question  is.  In  what,  according 
to  the  positions  assumed  by  the  Senator  from 
Illinois,  does  this  "fundamental  error,"  consist? 
I  understand  him  to  say  that  the  "fundamental 
error,"  into  which  he  charged  the  President  with 
having  fallen,  is  that  the  President  says  there 
was  no  law  in  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  country,  or  in  the  common 
usages  of  the  Government,  that  made  it  oblig 
atory  on  the  convention  of  Kansas  to  submit 
their  constitution  to  a  subsequent  vote  of  the 
people.  This  is  the  imputed  "fundamental 
error,"  to  that  point  I  shall  direct  the  attention 
of  the  Senate. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  say  whether  the  propriety 
of  the  submission  of  the  slave  branch  of  that 
constitution  to  a  separate  vote  ought  to  have 
been  considered  by  the  Executive  or  not.  I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  177 

choose  not  to  trace  in  the  course  of  his  reasoning 
on  the  subject.  I  choose  rather  to  notice  the 
conclusion  at  which  he  has  arrived — a  conclusion 
that  promises  a  full  adjustment  of  this  whole 
question;  that  promises  peace  to  the  country; 
that  promises  satisfaction  to  the  North,  and  to 
the  South;  and  that  promises  to  remove  a  bone 
of  contention  over  which  the  public  mind  has 
been  too  much  harassed  for  the  last  several 
years.  The  real  practical  question,  then,  which 
we  have  to  consider  is  this ;  ought  Kansas,  when 
her  Constitution  shall  be  presented,  be  admitted 
into  the  Union?  or  ought  the  consideration  of 
what  the  honorable  Senator  from  Illinois  calls 
a  "fundamental  error,"  of  the  President  to  be 
deemed  a  sufficient  reason  to  keep  Kansas  out  of 
the  Union,  and  to  keep  this  most  unfortunate 
subject  still  agitating  the  public  attention?  This 
is  the  real  issue.  It  is  not  whether  we  approve 
of  parts  of  the  Constitution  of  Kansas ;  it's  not 
whether  we  think  the  qualification  required  by 
the  Convention  in  framing  the  Constitution  of 
Kansas,  of  twenty  years'  citizenship  of  the 
United  States  in  order  to  be  Governor  is  right. 
That  is  a  subject  upon  which  the  people  of 
Kansas  alone  have  the  right  to  decide. 


178  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XXI. 

FAMOUS  "MUD-SILL"  SPEECH. 

Strong  sectional  feeling  grew  apace,  and 
northern  and  southern  Senators  were  hostile  to 
each  other. 

We  pass  to  the  events  of  the  year  1858. 

The  haughty  Mr.  Hammond,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  who  represented  the  very  pith  of  slave- 
holding  aristocracy  in  the  Southern  States,  deliv 
ered  a  remarkable  speech  on  March  9,  defining 
the  position  of  the  slaveholder,  and  his  ideas 
concerning  the  relationship  between  people  of 
high  and  low  degree  in  the  social  scale.  All  those 
who  labor  for  a  living,  he  designated  by  the  term 
"mud-sills,"  and  this  became  the  title  of  his 
speech,  which  was  in  part  as  follows: 

Mr.  Hammond.  In  all  social  systems  there 
must  be  a  class  to  do  the  mean  duties,  to  perform 
the  drudgery  of  life.  That  is  a  class  requiring 
but  a  low  order  of  intellect  and  but  little  skill. 
Its  requisites  are  vigor,  docility,  fidelity.  Such  a 
class  you  must  have,  or  you  would  not  have  that 
other  class  which  leads  progress,  refinement,  and 
civilization.  It  constitutes  the  very  mud-sills  of 
society  and  of  political  government;  and  you 
might  as  well  attempt  to  build  a  house  in  the 
air,  as  to  build  either  one  or  the  other,  except 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  179 

on  the  mud-sills.  Fortunately  for  the  South,  she 
found  a  race  adapted  to  that  purpose  to  her  hand. 
A  race  inferior  to  herself,  but  eminently  qualified, 
in  temper,  in  vigor,  in  docility,  in  capacity  to 
stand  the  climate,  to  answer  all  her  purposes. 
We  use  them,  for  the  purpose,  and  call  them 
slaves.  We  are  old-fashioned  at  the  South  yet; 
it  is  a  word  discarded  now  by  ears  polite;  but  I 
will  not  characterize  that  class  at  the  North  with 
that  term;  but  you  have  it;  it  is  there;  it  is 
everywhere;  it  is  eternal.  The  Senator  from 
New  York  said  yesterday  that  the  whole  world 
had  abolished  slavery.  Ay,  the  name,  but  not 
the  thing ;  and  all  the  powers  of  the  earth  cannot 
abolish  it.  God  only  can  do  it  when  he  repeals 
the  fiat,  "the  poor  ye  always  have  with  you," 
for  the  man  who  lives  by  daily  labor,  and 
scarcely  lives  at  that,  and  who  has  to  put  out  his 
labor  in  the  market  and  take  the  best  he  can  get 
for  it ;  in  short  your  whole  class  of  manual  la 
borers,  and  operatives,  as  you  call  them,  are 
slaves.  The  difference  between  us  is  that  our 
slaves  are  hired  for  life  and  well  compensated; 
there  is  no  starvation,  no  begging,  no  want  of 
employment  among  our  people,  and  not  too 
much  employment  either.  Yours  are  hired  by 
the  day,  not  cared  for,  and  scantily  compensated, 
which  may  be  proved  in  the  most  deplorable 
manner,  at  any  hour,  in  any  street  in  any  of  your 
larsfe  towns. 

Why,  sir,  you  meet  more  beggars  in  one  day, 
in  any  single  street  of  the  city  of  New  York. 
than  you  would  meet  in  a  life  time  in  the  whole 
South.  Our  slaves  are  black,  of  another  inferior 


i8o  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

race.  The  status  in  which  we  have  placed  them 
is  an  elevation.  They  are  elevated  from  the  con 
dition  in  which  God  first  created  them,  by  being 
made  our  slaves.  None  of  that  race  on  the 
whole  face  of  the  globe  can  be  compared  with 
the  slaves  of  the  South,  and  they  know  it.  They 
are  happy,  content,  unaspiring,  and  utterly  in 
capable,  from  intellectual  degradation,  ever  to 
gave  us  any  trouble  by  their  aspirations. 

Your  slaves  are  white,  of  your  own  race;  you 
are  brothers  of  one  blood.  They  are  your  equals 
in  intellect,  and  they  feel  galled  by  their  degrada 
tion.  Our  slaves  do  not  vote.  We  give  them  no 
political  power.  Yours  do  vote,  and  being  the 
majority,  they  are  the  depositaries  of  all  your 
political  power.  If  they  knew  the  tremendous 
secret,  that  the  ballot  box  is  stronger  than  an 
army  with  bayonets,  and  could  combine,  where 
would  you  be?  Your  society  would  be  recon 
structed,  your  government  reconstructed,  your 
property  divided,  not  as  they  have  mistakenly 
attempted  to  initiate  such  proceedings  by  meet 
ing  in  parks,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  but  by  the 
quiet  process  of  the  ballot  box.  You  have  been 
making  upon  us  to  our  very  hearthstones.  How 
would  you  like  for  us  to  send  lecturers  or  agita 
tors  North,  to  teach  these  people  this,  to  aid  and 
assist  in  combining,  and  to  lead  them? 

Mr.  Wilson  and  others.     Send  them  along. 

Mr.  Hammond.  You  say,  send  them  North? 
There  is  no  need  of  that.  They  are  coming  here. 
They  are  thundering  at  our  doors  for  home 
steads  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
for  nothing,  and  Southern  Senators  are  support- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  181 

ing  it.  Nay  they  are  assembling,  as  I  have  said, 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  and  demanding  work 
at  $1,000  a  year  and  six  hours  a  day.  Have  you 
heard  that  the  ghost  of  Mendosa  is  in  the  streets 
of  your  big  cities;  that  the  inquisition  is  at  hand? 
There  is  afloat  a  fearful  rumor  that  there  have 
been  consultations  for  vigilance  committees. 
You  know  what  that  means  already.  Transient 
and  temporary  causes  have  thus  far  been  your 
preservation.  The  great  West  has  been  open  to 
your  surplus  population  and  your  hordes  of 
semi-barbarian  emigrants  who  are  crowding  in 
year  by  year.  They  make  a  great  movement  and 
you  call  it  progress.  Whither?  It  is  progress; 
but  it  is  progress  towards  vigilance  committees. 
The  South  have  sustained  you  in  a  great  meas 
ure.  You  are  our  factors.  You  bring  and  carry 
for  us.  One  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  of 
our  money  passes  annually  through  your  hands. 
Much  of  it  sticks;  all  of  it  assists  to  keep  your 
machinery  together  and  in  motion.  Suppose  we 
were  to  discharge;  suppose  we  were  to  take  our 
business  out  of  your  hands;  we  should  consign 
you  to  anarchy  and  poverty.  You  complain  of 
the  rule  of  the  South;  that  has  been  another 
cause  that  has  preserved  you.  We  have  kept  the 
Government  conservative  to  the  great  purposes 
of  the  Government.  We  have  placed  her,  and 
kept  her,  upon  the  Constitution;  and  that  has 
been  the  cause  of  your  peace  and  prosperity. 
The  Senator  from  New  York  said  that  that,  is 
about  at  an  end ;  that  you  intend  to  take  Govern 
ment  from  us;  that  it  will  pass  from  our  hands. 
Perhaps  what  he  says  is  true;  it  may  be;  but  do 


184  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XXII. 

THE  MEN  OF  MAINE. 

An  agricultural  expert  from  England  was 
walking  along  the  rock-ribbed  coast  of  Maine  in 
company  with  a  friend,  a  citizen  of  the  State, 
when  he  turned  about  and  asked:  "What  can 
you  grow  here?  Your  soil  seems  so  rocky  and 
sterile  that  no  crops  will  thrive  in  it.  What  do 
you  raise?"  "We  raise  men!"  was  the  ready 
answer. 

The  conversation  is  reported  as  having  oc 
curred  long  years  ago,  when  Hamlin  and  Fessen- 
den  were  senators  from  Maine.  And  taking 
them  as  examples  it  must  be  agreed  that  the 
answer  to  the  Englishman's  query,  was  good. 


Hannibal  Hamlin  was  a  man  that  any  State 
might  easily  have  been  proud  to  send  to  the 
Senate  as  a  type  of  her  citizenship,  and  one  in 
whose  trust  her  public  affairs  were  well  guarded. 
He  was  born  in  that  State,  in  1809,  of  Puritan 
stock.  His  grandfather  was  in  command  of 
minute  men  in  the  Revolution,  a  matter  though 
quite  in  confofmity  with  such  sturdy  folk 
as  have  adorned  history  and  genealogy  in  New 
England. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  185 

In  his  youth,  Hannibal  worked  on  the  home 
farm,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  his  father  pro 
posed  to  him  the  study  of  law,  which  he  began 
but  discontinued  before  the  lapse  of  a  year,  ow 
ing  to  his  father's  death.  He  then  returned  to 
the  employment  of  tilling  the  soil,  which  he  did 
for  the  next  two  years.  During  that  time  he 
became  joint  editor  and  proprietor  with  Horatio 
King,  of  a  Democratic  newspaper.  He  wrote 
both  prose  and  poetry,  but  so  much  preferred  the 
law,  that  he  eventually  sold  out  his  interests  in 
the  paper,  and  entered  the  law  offices  in  which 
Mr.  Fessenden  was  a  partner.  In  1836,  he  be 
gan  a  public  career,  by  going  to  the  Legislature; 
and  in  1840,  was  speaker  of  the  House  of  Dele 
gates.  In  1843,  making  rapid  strides  toward  a 
high  goal,  he  was  sent  to  Congress  as  a  repre 
sentative.  Five  years  later  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate  to  fill  a  vacant  seat,  and 
in  1851  was  re-elected  for  the  full  term.  At  the 
outset  he  ranked  among  the  leaders,  and  very 
ardently  opposed  slavery.  He  was  an  effective 
speaker,  and  in}  manly  tones  directed  stern  re 
bukes  to  the  slaVeholders. 

Although  a  Democrat,  and  acting  with  that 
party  in  all  its  policies,  he  would  not  countenance 
any  plan  for  the  extension  of  slavery  in  the 
Union.  He  became  Governor  of  Maine  in  1857, 
but  resigned  in  a  very  short  time  to  again  take 
his  old  seat  in  the  Senate,  but  now  defending 
Republican  principles.  He  was  elected  Vice- 
President,  with  Lincoln,  his  nomination  on  the 
ticket  being  a  complete  surprise  to  him.  During 
the  crisis  of  that  administration,  he  was  the 


1 86  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

President's  right  hand.  However  that  may  be, 
we  are  now  concerned  with  Hamlin  as  Senator, 
who  with  great  pungency  made  reply  to  Mr. 
Hamlin's  "mud-sill"  speech,  the  text  of  which  is 
here  given: 

Mr.  President,  it  is  my  purpose  upon  the 
present  occasion  to  confine  myself  principally  to 
a  reply  to  the  suggestions  which  have  been  made 
by  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina, 
(Mr.  Hammond.)  I  may,  after  reviewing  some 
of  the  remarkable  doctrines  which  have  been 
presented,  say  something  on  the  question  which 
is  directly  before  us;  but  it  is  now  my  object  to 
review  some  of  the  positions  which  he  has  as 
sumed,  for  the  purpose  of  testing  their  accuracy 
or  inaccuracy,  and  to  answer  some  of  the 
assaults  which  he  has  made  on  the  people  I 
represent.  The  doctrines  enunciated  by  that 
Senator  are  remarkable.  The  frankness  with 
which  they  were  expressed  is  commendable.  It 
is  my  purpose  to  speak  particularly  to  three  dis 
tinct  points ;  first  the  faith  of  the  South,  and  the 
manner  in  which  she  has  kept  ,it;  second,  the 
capacity  of  the  South  as  a  distinct  and  separate 
Government,  as  presented  by  the  Senator  from 
South  Carolina;  and  third  the  character  of  the 
people  whom  I  represent — the  laboring  masses 
of  the  North.  I  may  say  incidentally  something 
in  relation  to  some  other  points  which  he  sug 
gested,  but  to  these  three  points  I  propose  mainly 
to  confine  myself.  These  points  I  propose  to  dis 
cuss,  though  I  may  not  do  so  in  the  order  in 
which  I  have  named  them. 

First  as  to  the  faith  of  the  South,  I  will  not 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  187 

stop  to  quote  the  Senator's  language;  but  he 
asserts  broadly  that  the  North  have  informally 
violated  their  faith,  but  that  we  may  rely  with 
unlimited  confidence  upon  the  unbroken  faith  of 
the  South.  I  have  no  answer  to  his  allegations 
as  to  the  faith  of  the  North.  When  he  shall 
make  his  specifications  I  will  give  the  answer 
that  justice  shall  demand.  On  what  point  have 
we  at  the  North  been  faithless  to  our  Constitu 
tional  obligations?  Upon  what  point  have  we  at 
the  North  been  faithless  to  the  South?  Sir, 
when  I  speak  of  the  South,  I  am  only  using  the 
term  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  has 
placed  in  my  mouth.  In  my  heart,  I  know  no 
North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West.  We  are  the 
people  of  one  common  country.  Whatever  relates 
to  the  prosperity  and  the  welfare,  whatever  per 
tains  to  the  rights  of  the  South,  as  an  American 
citizen,  as  an  American  Senator,  I  stand  here  to 
vindicate  and  maintain.  What  are  their  rights 
are  my  rights.  What  belongs  to  them  belongs  to 
me,  as  a  citizen  of  a  common  country.  But  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  has  seen  fit  in  the 
course  of  the  argument  which  he  has  pursued  to 
arraign  the  North  for  the  want  of  fidelity,  and 
has  vaunted  here  the  unbroken  plighted  faith  of 
the  South.  I  ask  again,  in  what  have  we  violated 
our  constitutional  obligations  ?  I  tell  you,  sir,  you 
mistake  us.  We  regard  our  country  as  a  whole. 
We  are  willir^  to  stand  by  it  as  a  whole;  nay,  in 
the  Union,  we  mean  to  stand  by  it  as  a  whole. 

You  can  neither  drive  us  out  of  it,  nor  shall 
you  go! 

But  sir,  to  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the 


1 88          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

points  which  I  make.  The  facts  of  history  show 
to  my  mind  conclusively,  that  while  we  have  been 
a  Union,  the  faith  of  the  South,  of  which 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  so  vauntedly 
boasted,  has  hardly  been  kept.  I  would  not  pur 
sue  this  line  of  argument  but  for  the  manner  in 
which  the  allegation  was  made. 

No  single  instance  in  which  we  of  the  North 
have  violated  our  constitutional  obligation  has 
been  cited.  I  think,  in  the  absence  of  any  speci 
fications,  I  may  clearly  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  none  can  be  successfully  made.  I  hardly 
know  what  the  Senator  means  by  Southern  faith. 
I  am  therefore  left  to  grope  my  way,  and  draw 
my  own  conclusions. 

I  pass,  now,  to  the  discussion  of  another  posi 
tion  which  he  has  assumed.  He  told  us,  "the 
poor  ye  always  have  with  you."  That  is  true; 
there  is  no  denial  of  the  fact.  There  is,  however, 
another  maxim  of  the  same  good  book,  which 
he  might  have  quoted  with  just  as  much  pro 
priety,  and  just  as  great  truth:  "Do  ye  unto 
others  as  ye  would  that  others  should  do  unto 
you,  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Does 
poverty  imply  crime?  Does  poverty  imply 
servitude?  Does  poverty  imply  slavery?  I  join 
issue  with  the  Senator  there.  In  all  climes,  in 
all  countries,  and  in  all  ages  there  are  poor. 
Because  men  are  poor,  does  that  imply  that 
they  are  to  be  placed  on  the  same  basis  with  per 
sons  who  are  subjugated,  and  who  toil  in  the 
chains  of  slavery.  I  deny  it.  There  is  a  prompt 
ing  of  the  heart,  there  is  a  principle  of  Christian 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  189 

benevolence,  that  tells  you,  and  tells  me,  and  tells 
us  all,  that  if  there  are  poor,  it  is  our  duty  to 
alleviate  their  poverty  and  to  remove  their  dis 
tress — not,  because  they  are  poor,  to  class  them 
in  the  same  condition  with  negro  slaves !  I  grant 
that  poverty  necessarily  produces  a  great  degree 
of  dependence  of  the  poor  upon  other  classes, 
than  would  exist  in  another  state  of  circum 
stances;  but  because  a  man  is  poor,  does  that 
discharge  you  from  the  obligations  which  you 
owe  to  him  as  a  fellow  citizen?  Because  he  is 
poor  does  that  relieve  you  from  the  obligation 
which  you  owe  to  him  as  a  citizen  of  the  com 
munity  and  as  a  Christian  ?  Surely  not ;  and  that 
dependence  does  not  create  slavery.  Look  over 
the  world  and  you  find  that  poverty,  is  produced 
from  a  variety  of  circumstances.  It  may  be  mis 
fortune;  generally,  I  think  by  improvidence.  It 
may  be  by  devasting  elements.  It  may  be  by 
causes  over  which  the  individual  has  no  control. 
No  matter  what  are  the  causes,  if  they  operate 
on  the  individual  he  is  entitled  to  your  sympa 
thies  and  to  your  Christian  benevolence;  and 
God  forbid  that  you  should  class  him  with  the 
slave  that  toils  only  to  live,  and  lives  only  to 
toil.  It  may  be  sir,  that  the  influence  of  slavery 
is  calculated,  if  not  designed  to  produce  that 
state  of  things;  but  if  its  tendencies  are  to  pro 
duce  that  state  of  things,  still  to  place  the  poor 
on  the  same  basis  with  the  negro  slave,  who  does 
not  own  himself,  is  unjust  and  illogical. 

But  sir  while  the  Senator  charges  us  with 
having  in  all  our  large  cities,  a  very  considerable 
number  of  persons  who  obtain  alms  from  beg- 


190  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

gary,  while  he  asserts  there  are  more  paupers  in 
the  streets  of  New  York  than  are  to  be  found 
in  the  whole  South;  still,  is  it  not  true  in  all 
large  places,  you  witness  always  the  trappings 
of  wealth  and  the  misery  which  is  incident  to 
poverty?  Is  it  not  as  true  of  the  South  as  the 
North?  While  we  have  large  hordes  of  that 
class  of  men  in  the  great  cities  of  the  North,  is 
it  not  true  that  vast  portions  of  them  come 
even  from  the  South,  and  congregate  there  and 
ask  alms  at  our  hands? 

Now  my  word  for  it,  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  has  mistaken  the  character  of  our  popu 
lation  and  our  laborers.  I  stand  here  the  rep 
resentative  of  northern  laborers.  In  my  own 
person  I  present  a  laboring  man — educated  at 
the  printing  case,  toiling  in  my  field  and  earning 
with  my  own  hands,  and  by  the  sweat  of  my  own 
brow,  the  food  on  which  I  subsist ;  and  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  here  sits  besides  me  a  worthy  com 
peer  (Mr.  Wilson).  It  may  be  regarded  as 
egotistical,  and  if  so,  I  ask  you  to  pardon  me ; 
but  I  think  I  feel  something  for  the  man  that 
labors. 

I  think  I  have  something  in  my  heart  that 
leads  me  to  sympathize  with  him.  I  know  that 
my  friend  from  Massachusetts  has.  From  our 
boyhood  to  our  manhood  we  have  toiled  in  the 
sunshine  and  in  the  rain,  and  we  are,  though 
poor  ones,  the  representatives  of  the  men  who 
labor  at  the  North.  I  wish  they  had  better  and 
abler  representatives  here;  but  such  as  we  are, 
they  have  sent  us  here;  such  as  we  are,  we  will 
vindicate  their  rights." 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  191 

Some  days  later  Mr.  Hamlin  was  drawn  into 
the  debate  again. 

"Who  are  our  'hireling  manual  laborers,'  of 
the  North?  Sir,  I  can  tell  that  Senator  that  they 
are  not  the  mud-sills  of  our  community.  They 
are  the  men  who  clear  away  our  forests.  They 
are  the  men  who  make  the  green  hill  side  blos 
som.  They  are  the  men  who  build  our  ships  and 
who  navigate  them.  They  are  the  men  who 
build  our  towns,  and  who  inhabit  them.  They 
are  the  men  who  constitute  the  great  mass  of  our 
community.  Sir  they  are  not  only  the  pillars 
that  support  the  Government,  but  they  are  the 
capitals  that  adorn  the  very  pillars.  They  are 
not  to  be  classed  with  the  slave.  Our  laboring 
men  have  homes;  they  have  wives;  they  have 
little  ones,  dependent  on  them  for  support  and 
maintenance;  and  they  are  just  so  many  incen 
tives  and  so  much  stimulus  to  action.  The  labor 
ing  man  with  us  knows  for  whom  he  toils ;  and 
when  he  toils  he  knows  he  is  to  return  to  that 
home  where  comfort  and  pleasure  and  all  the 
domestic  associates  cluster  around  the  social 
hearthstone.  Northern  laborers  are  "hirelings," 
and  are  to  be  classed  with  the  negro  slave ! 

Besides  that,  the  men  who  labor  in  our  com 
munity  are  the  men  whom  we  clothe  with  power. 
They  are  the  men  who  exercise  the  prerogatives 
of  the  State.  They  are  the  men  who,  after  hav 
ing  been  clothed  with  power  there,  are  sent 
abroad  to  represent  us  elsewhere.  They  do  our 
legislation  at  home.  They  support  the  State. 
They  are  the  State.  They  are  men,  high  minded 
men.  They  read ;  they  watch  you  in  these  Halls 


192  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

every  day;  and  through  all  our  community  the 
doings  of  this  branch,  and  of  the  other,  are  as 
well  understood,  and  perhaps  even  better,  than 
we  understand  them  ourselves.  I  affirm  that, 
throughout  our  community,  the  proceedings  of 
Congress  are  more  extensively  and  accurately 
read  than  even  by  ourselves.  These  are  the  men 
who  are  to  be  classed  by  the  side  of  the  slave? 
I  think  it  is  true  that,  in  about  every  three  gen 
erations  at  most,  the  wheel  entirely  performs  its 
revolution.  The  wealthy  man  of  the  North,  the 
wealthy  man  of  any  community,  finds  wealth  at 
the  end  of  two  or  three  generations  departing 
from  the  hands  that  accumulated  it:  and  those 
who  commenced  life  without  means,  and  were 
"hireling  manual  laborers,"  in  their  turn,  by  their 
industry,  accumulate  that  wealth.  That  is  the 
operation  of  things  around  us.  You  rarely  find 
a  fortune  continuing  beyond  three  generations  in 
this  country  in  the  same  family. 

That  class  of  our  community,  containing  a 
very  large  majority  have  been  designated  here 
as  hireling  laborers,  white  slaves!  Why,  sir, 
does  labor  imply  slavery?  Because  they  toil,  be 
cause  they  pursue  a  course  which  enables  them 
to  support  their  wives  and  their  families,  even 
if  it  be  by  daily  manual  labor,  does  that  neces 
sarily  imply  servitude?  Far  from  it!  I  affirm 
that  the  great  portion  of  our  laborers  at  the 
North  own  their  homes,  and  labor  to  adorn  them. 
They  own  their  own  homes,  and  if  you  will  visit 
them  you  will  find  there  evidences  to  satisfy  you 
beyond  all  doubt  that  they  are  intelligent,  and  that 
they  are  in  truth  and  in  fact  precisely  what  I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  193 

have  described  them  to  be — the  pillars  of  the 
State,  the  State  itself,  and  the  very  ornaments 
and  capitals  that  adorn  the  columns.  With  them 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is  not  a  crime. 

I  have  quoted  all  that  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  has  said  on  this  point  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  the  widest  circulation  I  can  to  the  declar 
ations  he  has  made. 

He  has  mistaken,  I  doubt  not,  the  character  of 
our  laborers  by  judging  them  from  what  he  has 
seen  in  his  own  vicinity  and  what  in  my  judg 
ment,  is  produced  by  that  very  state  of  servitude 
which  is  there  existing.  It  is  my  duty  to  vindi 
cate  our  laborers.  My  own  regret  is  that  I  can 
do  it  no  more  efficiently. 


194  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 


XXIII. 
"HIRELING  MANUAL  LABORERS." 

St.  Peter  was  called  by  his  Lord,  "a  rock,"  and 
a  fit  foundation  for  the  building  of  a  Church. 
We  know  that  the  great  Apostle  was  not  de 
graded  by  reason  of  his  new  name,  but  very 
highly  exalted.  It  was  a  figure  of  speech. 

Senator  Hammond's  figure  of  speech  was  not 
susceptible  of  being  so  turned  as  to  reflect 
creditably  upon  the  toiler.  He  implied  that  the 
"hireling  manual  laborer"  being  a  "mud-sill," 
which  is  the  lowest  sill  in  the  house — the  sill 
upon  which  the  superstructure  rests — was  by  its 
very  nature  a  thing  half  imbedded  in  dirt,  and 
only  fitted  for  the  meanest  uses. 

There  were  some  members  of  the  Senate  who 
listened  to  Mr.  Hammond,  who  were  themselves 
of  humble  beginnings ;  men  who  had  had  to  do 
hard  labor  for  their  living;  and  they  were  not 
slow  to  offer  objection  to  this  affront  pronounced 
upon  the  "hireling."  The  masterly  answers  to 
that  speech  were  sufficient  to  gladden  the  heart 
of  any  one  who  had  ever  worked  with  his  hands. 
Such  men  as  Wilson,  Broderick,  and  Wade,  took 
up  the  defense  so  ably  begun  by  Hamlin.  "The 
Natick  Shoemaker"  was  well  equipped  for  an 
attack  upon  this  doctrine  propounded  by  the 
Southern  senator. 


HENRY 

&M0REW     JQWNSOT4, 


C. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  195 

Mr.  Wilson  said: 

Sir, — I  have  toiled  as  a  "hireling  manual 
laborer"  in  the  field  and  in  the  work  shop;  and 
I  tell  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  that  I 
never  "felt  galled  by  my  degradation."  No,  sir 
— never!  Perhaps  the  Senator  who  represents 
that  "other  class  which  leads  progress,  civiliza 
tion,  and  refinement,"  will  ascribe  this  to  obtuse- 
ness  of  intellect  and  blunted  sensibilities  of  the 
heart.  Sir,  I  was  conscious  of  my  manhood;  I 
was  the  peer  of  my  employer;  I  knew  that  the 
laws  and  institutions  of  my  native  and  adopted 
State  threw  over  him  and  over  me  alike  the 
panoply  of  equality;  I  knew,  too,  that  the  world 
was  before  me,  that  its  wealth,  its  garnered 
treasures  of  knowledge,  its  honors,  the  coveted 
prizes  of  life,  were  within  the  grasp  of  a  brave 
heart  and  a  tireless  hand,  and  I  accepted  the  re 
sponsibilities  of  my  position  all  unconscious  that 
1  was  a  "slave."  I  have  employed  others,  hun 
dreds  "of  hireling  manual  laborers."  Some  of 
them  then  possessed,  and  now  possess  more 
property  than  I  ever  owned ;  some  of  them  were 
better  educated  than  myself — yes,  sir,  better  edu 
cated,  and  better  read,  too,  than  some  Senators 
on  this  floor ;  and  many  of  them,  in  moral  excel 
lence  and  purity  of  character,  I  could  not  but 
feel,  were  my  superiors.  I  have  occupied,  Mr. 
President,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  the  relation 
of  employer  and  employed;  and  while  I  never 
felt  "galled  by  my  degradation"  in  the  one  case, 
in  the  other  I  was  never  conscious  that  my  "hire 
ling  laborers  were  my  inferiors.  That  man  is 
a  snob  who  boasts  of  being  a  "hireling  laborer" 


196  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

or  who  is  ashamed  of  being  a  "hireling  laborer ;" 
that  man  is  a  snob  who  feels  any  inferiority  to 
any  man  because  he  is  a  "hireling  laborer,"  or  who 
assumes  any  superiority  over  others  because  he 
is  an  employer.  Honest  labor  is  honorable;  and 
the  man  who  is  ashamed  he  is  or  was  a  "hireling 
laborer"  has  not  manhood  enough  to  "feel  galled 
by  his  degradation." 

Having  occupied  Mr.  President,  the  relation 
of  either  employed  or  employer  for  the  third  of 
a  century;  having  lived  in  a  Commonwealth 
where  the  "hireling  class  of  manual  laborers" 
are  "the  depositaries  of  political  power,"  having 
associated  with  this  class  in  all  the  relations  of 
life;  I  tell  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  and 
the  class  he  represents,  that  he  libels,  grossly 
libels  them,  when  he  declares  that  they  are 
"essentially  slaves!"  There  can  be  found  no 
where  in  America  a  class  of  men  more  proudly 
conscious  or  tenacious  of  their  rights.  Friends 
and  foes  have  ever  found  them 


'A  stubborn  race,  fearing  and  flattering  none.' 


Another,  and  one  who  had  been  a  stone-cutter 
by  trade,  a  man  fond  of  books,  and  a  most 
soulful  and  interesting  character — David  C. 
Broderick,  by  name,  senator  from  California, 
and  one  of  the  youngest  members  in  the  cham 
ber,  uttered  some  memorable  words  which  were 
evoked  by  the  speech  branding  the  men  of  his 
former  station  in  life,  as  slaves. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  197 

Mr.  Broderick  said: 

I,  sir,  am  glad  that  the  Senator  has  spoken 
thus.  It  may  have  the  effect  of  arousing  in  the 
workingmen  that  spirit  that  has  been  lying  dor 
mant  for  centuries.  It  may  also  have  the  effect 
of  arousing  the  two  hundred  thousand  men  with 
pure  skins  in  South  Carolina,  who  are  now  de 
graded  and  despised  by  thirty  thousand  aristo 
cratic  slave  solders.  It  may  teach  them  to  de 
mand  what  is  the  power — 

Linked  with  success,  assumed  and  kept  with 

skill, 

That  moulds  another's  weakness  to  its  will; 
Weilds   with   their   hands,   but   still   to   them 

unknown, 
Makes  even  their  mightiest  deeds  appear  his 

own!" 

I  suppose,  sir,  the  Senator  from  South  Caro 
lina  did  not  intend  to  be  personal  in  his  remarks 
to  any  of  his  peers  upon  this  floor.  If  I  had 
thought  so  I  would  have  noticed  them  at  the 
time.  I  am,  sir,  with  one  exception,  the  youngest 
in  years  of  the  Senators  upon  this  floor.  It's  not 
long  since  I  served  an  apprenticeship  of  five 
years  at  one  of  the  most  laborious  mechanical 
trades  pursued  by  man — a  trade  that  from  its 
nature  devotes  its  followers  to  thought,  but  de 
bars  him  from  conversation.  I  would  not  have 
alluded  to  this  if  it  were  not  for  the  remarks  of 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina;  and  the  thou 
sands  who  know  that  I  am  the  son  of  an  Artisan 
and  have  been  a  mechanic,  would  feel  disap- 


198  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

pointed  in  me  if  I  did  not  reply  to  him.  I  am 
not  proud  of  this.  I  am  sorry  it  is  true.  I  would 
that  I  could  have  enjoyed  the  pleasures  of  life  in 
my  boyhood  days;  but  they  were  denied  to  me. 
I  say  this  with  pain.  I  have  not  the  admiration 
for  the  men  of  the  class  from  which  I  sprang 
that  might  be  expected;  they  submit  too  tamely 
to  oppression,  and  are  prone  to  neglect  their 
rights  and  duties  as  citizens.  But  sir  the  class 
of  society  to  whose  toil  I  was  born,  under  our 
form  of  government  will  control  the  destinies  of 
this  nation.  If  I  were  inclined  to  forget  my 
connection  with  them,  or  to  deny  that  I  sprang 
from  them,  this  chamber  would  not  be  the  place 
in  which  I  could  do  either.  While  I  hold  a  seat 
I  have  but  to  look  at  the  beautiful  capitals  adorn 
ing  the  pilasters  that  support  this  roof,  to  be  re 
minded  of  my  father's  talent  and  to  see  his 
handiwork.  I  left  the  scenes  of  my  youth  and 
manhood  for  the  Tar  West'  because  I  was  tired 
of  the  struggle  and  jealousies  of  men  of  my 
class,  who  could  not  understand  why  one  of  their 
fellows  should  seek  to  elevate  his  condition  upon 
the  common  level.  I  made  my  new  abode  among 
strangers  where  labor  is  honored.  I  had  left 
without  regret;  there  remained  no  tie  of  blood 
to  bind  me  to  any  being  in  existence.  If  I  fell  in 
the  struggle  for  reputation  and  fortune,  there 
was  no  relative  on  earth  to  mourn  my  fall.  The 
people  of  California  elevated  me  to  the  highest 
honor  within  their  gift.  My  election  was  not  the 
result  of  an  accident.  For  years  I  had  to  strug 
gle,  often  seeing  the  goal  of  my  ambition  within 
my  reach ;  it  was  again  and  again  taken  from  me 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  199 

by  the  aid  of  men  from  my  own  class.  I  had  not 
only  them  to  contend  with,  but  almost  the  entire 
partisan  press  of  my  State  was  subsidized  by 
Government  money  and  patronage  to  oppose  my 
election.  I  sincerely  hope,  sir,  the  time  will  come 
when  such  speeches  as  that  from  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  will  be  considered  a  lesson 
to  the  laborers  of  the  nation. 


The  New  York  Tribune  commenting  on  Mr. 
Wade's  reply,  made  these  statements: 

There  are  many  fine  orations  and  good  argu 
ments  delivered  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
from  time  to  time;  but  not  often  a  really  good 
speech.  ...  In  the  powerful  effort  of 
Judge  Wade,  the  speech  is  but  the  just  measure 
of  the  man. 


Mr.  Wade's  speech  in  part: 

Of  what  use  is  your  idle  aristocracy? 

In  God's  name,  have  they  not  been  the  curse, 
the  blight  of  every  nation  of  the  earth?  You 
cannot  have  this  refined  aristocracy,  says  the 
gentleman,  unless  you  have  a  class  to  do  your 
drudgery ;  and  that  is  the  sentiment  of  the  whole 
South.  How  diametrically  opposed  to  it  is  the 
whole  practical  system  of  the  North?  Is  it  rea 
sonable,  is  it  right,  that  "a  class"  shall  do  your 
drudgery — "a  class"  that  shall  obey?  Sir,  labor 
should  never  be  done  by  a  class.  If  you  obeyed 
the  mandate  of  the  Almighty,  and  labor  were 


2oo          MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

distributed  among  all  the  able  bodied  men,  it 
would  cease  to  be  a  task;  it  would  be  a  mere 
amusement,  and  it  would  tax  no  man's  physical 
powers  above  what  would  consist  with  his  health 
and  his  welfare.  It  was  designed — for  God  is 
just — that  this  drudgery  of  which  the  Senator 
speaks  should  be  distributed  among  all  the  able- 
bodied  men  so  as  to  make  it  light,  and  then  it 
would  not  be  inconsistent  with  the  highest  perfec 
tion  of  civilization  and  refinement ;  but  on  the 
other  hand,  would  lead  directly  to  it. 

Labor  done  by  a  class !  That,  sir,  was  the 
curse  of  the  Old  World.  A  class  has  been 
assigned  to  do  the  drudgery,  to  do  all  that  is 
valuable,  to  produce  everything  that  is  beneficial ; 
and  the  system  leaves  aristocratical  drones,  use 
less,  vicious  idlers  whom  any  community  can 
well  dispense  with.  I  say  this  class  you  can 
dispense  with  to  the  advantage  of  any  com 
munity  that  I  know  of;  but  the  class  who  do 
your  labor  cannot  be  dispensed  with.  The  Sen 
ator  says  you  must  have  class  to  do  your 
degraded  labor.  I  deny  that  labor  is  degraded; 
and  here  is  the  point  of  difference  between  us, 
which  I  fear  can  never  be  overcome.  That  is  one 
grand  reason  why  we  resist  your  system  coming 
into  our  Territories ;  it  is  all  because  you  are 
determined  to  contaminate  all  labor  by  this  de 
graded  class.  Will  the  free,  intelligent  laborer 
place  himself  upon  a  level  with  your  mere  abject 
chattel,  and  toil  there?  Sir,  he  cannot  do  it,  and 
ought  not  to  do  it,  and  will  not  do  it.  What  an 
idea  of  labor!  The  Senator  supposes  that  the 
laboring  class  want  but  very  little  mind  and  verg 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  201 

little  skill.  Sir,  there  is  nothing  on  earth  that 
puts  the  human  intellect  to  all  that  it  can  attain 
like  the  varied  labor  of  man;  what  does  your 
drone,  your  refined  aristocrat,  do  in  his  mind? 
What  problems  does  he  work  out  ?  He  consumes 
the  products  of  labor;  he  is  idle,  and  ten  to  one 
is  also  vicious.  He  never  invents.  Go  to  your 
Patent  Office,  and  see  what  are  the  products  of 
your  degraded  labor  and  your  refined  aristocrat. 

The  latter  never  invents  anything,  unless  its 
a  new  way  of  stuffing  a  chicken  or  mixing  liquor. 
(Laughter.)  He  invents  nothing  beneficial  to 
man.  Degraded  labor,  with  a  low  intellect  is  all 
you  want!  Sir,  the  machinery  brought  into 
operation  by  intelligent  labor  is  doing  now  more 
drudgery  than  all  the  slaves  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth.  The  elements  are  yoked  to  the  ma 
chines  of  usefulness,  and  there  they  are  doing 
the  work  of  bone  and  muscle  and  your  system 
cannot  abide  with  it.  The  doom  of  slavery 
would  be  fixed,  if  it  was  by  nothing  else  than  the 
products  of  intelligent  labor.  You  drudge  along 
in  the  old  way;  you  invent  no  steam  engine,  be 
cause  your  labor  is  degraded.  You  do  not  want 
skill;  you  want  but  very  little  mind;  and  the 
Senator  thinks  the  more  ignorant  the  laborers 
are  the  better,  for  he  says  they  are  so  degraded 
that  they  have  no  ambition,  and  they  never  will 
endanger  this  refined  class  that  eats  up  the  pro 
ceeds  of  their  labor! 

That  is  the  idea  of  government  that  prevails 
all  through  the  slave-holding  regions  of  the 
South.  Again  the  Senator  says  of  the  degraded 
class  that  do  the  drudgery,  "It  constitutes  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

very  mul-sills  of  society  and  of  political  govern* • 
merit;  and  you  might  as  well  attempt  to  build  a 
house  in  the  air;  as  to  build  either  one  or  the 
other,  except  on  this  mud-sill." 

And  then  he  goes  on  to  say  that  we  of  the 
North  have  white  slaves;  that  we  perform  our 
labor  by  the  white  slaves.  This  class  must  exist 
everywhere,  and  they  must  be  a  mud-sill  upon 
which  you  must  erect  civil  societies  and  political 
organizations. 

How  little  that  gentleman  understood  of  the 
spirit  of  our  northern  laborers !  I  would  like  to 
see  him  endeavoring  to  erect  his  political  institu 
tions  upon  their  prostrate  necks  as  mud-sills.  I 
think  it  would  be  a  little  troublesome.  He  might 
as  well  make  his  bed  in  hell,  or  erect  his  building 
over  a  volcano,  as  to  undertake  to  build  on  his 
northern  "mud-sills."  Then  with  a  simplicity  that 
shows  he  knows  nothing  of  northern  society,  he 
says  we  have  sent  our  missionaries  down  to  their 
very  hearthstones  to  endanger  their  system.  I 
do  not  know  how  that  is ;  but  he  turns  round  and 
asks  how  we  would  like  them  to  send  their  mis 
sionaries  up  to  teach  our  laborers  their  power. 
I  was  astonished  as  such  an  idea  as  that  being 
presented  to  political  men  of  the  North,  who 
know  and  feel  the  power  of  the  laboring  class  of 
men.  We  are  all  laboring  men,  and  the  politician 
cannot  live  unless  they  breath  upon  him;  he  can 
not  move  unless  he  moves  with  their  approbation. 
They  are  the  soul,  the  strength,  the  body,  the 
virtue,  the  main  stay  of  all  our  society.  Deprive 
our  State  of  its  laborers  and  what  would  it  be? 
We  have  nothing  else,  and  we  have  none  of  your 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  203 

refined  society  that  is  spoken  of.  We  all  labor, 
and  are  all  disgraced  as  the  gentleman  would  call 
it,  in  our  community.  Labor  with  us  is  honor 
able;  idleness  is  disreputable.  That  is  the  state 
of  things  with  us,  and  the  laboring  man  knows 
full  well,  and  needs  no  missionary  to  tell  him  the 
potency  of  his  vote.  We  should  like  to  have  your 
missionaries  come  up  and  endeavor  to  endanger 
our  society!  Good  heavens!  One  man  has  the 
same  interest  in  upholding  it  as  another.  Sup 
pose  one  man  is  richer  than  another  in  Ohio. 
There  is  no  great  diversity,  as  a  general  thing; 
but  suppose  he  is;  take  the  child  of  the  poorest 
man  in  our  State ;  and  has  he  any  temptation  to 
overthrow  our  government  ?  No,  sir ;  full  of 
life,  full  of  hope,  full  of  ambition  to  go  beyond 
him  who  has  gone  furthest,  he  wishes  to  avail 
himself  of  the  same  securities  which  have  mis- 
istered  to  the  upbuilding  of  others.  He  is  a 
citizen,  who  holds  all  the  rights  of  citizenship  as 
dear  as  the  most  wealthy.  His  stake  in  society  is 
the  same;  his  hope  is  the  same;  his  interest  in 
good  government  is  the  same.  He  is  none  of 
your  prostrate  mud-sills  deprived  of  those  rights 
which  God  Almighty  has  given  him,  trampled 
under  foot,  and  made  to  minister  to  the  interest 
of  another  man.  There  is  no  such  system  as  that 
with  us. 

But  the  Senator  spoke  about  a  degraded  class 
in  our  great  commercial  cities.  I  have  to  confess 
that  there  is  some  truth  in  that.  We  have  a  de 
graded  class  in  the  cities.  They  are  the  off- 
scouring  generally  of  this  Old  World — men  who 
come  here  reduced  to  beggary  by  their  ignor- 


204  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ance ;  reduced  to  beggary  by  their  vice ;  ignorant, 
vicious,  dangerous.  I  do  not  deny  it.  They  are 
incident  to  all  large  cities ;  but  the  Senator  should 
not  complain  of  them.  They  are  the  chief 
corner  stone  of  your  political  strength  in  the 
North.  Fnd  me  the  vicious  ward  of  any  city  that 
does  not  uphold  your  system  of  slavery,  vote  for 
its  candidates,  support  its  measures  and  labor  for 
its  men.  No,  sir,  you  should  not  complain  of  this 
vicious  population.  In  truth  and  in  fact,  they  are 
about  the  only  stay  and  support  you  have  there 
now  and  you  ought  not  to  traduce  them.  From 
their  very  natures,  they  attach  themselves  to  you, 
and  I  do  not  think  by  any  treatment  you  will  be 
able  to  drive  them  off. 

They  are  naturally  with  you ;  they  were  slaves 
in  their  own  countries;  they  do  not  know  any 
thing  else  than  to  be  the  understrappers  of  some 
body;  and  when  they  hear  that  here  are  slave 
holders  contending  with  freemen,  you  will  find 
them  with  the  former  all  the  time. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  205 


XXIV. 
ANDREW  JOHNSON:  TAILOR- STATESMAN. 

The  Senate  seemed  to  hold  as  many  men  who 
climbed  to  success  through  adversity  and, 
oftimes,  antagonism,  as  it  did  men  who  were 
lifted  up  amid  showers  of  praise.  Perhaps,  some 
of  the  most  useful  public  men  of  those  times 
came  from  the  masses,  among  whose  serried 
ranks  the  whole  being  must  ever  bend  in  the 
struggle  for  mere  bread,  to  say  nothing  of 
advancement  in  the  world's  affairs. 

Born  of  the  people,  brought  up  amongst  the 
people,  and  a  representative  of  the  people,  An 
drew  Johnson,  tailor  and  statesman,  stood  in  the 
halls  of  Congress,  the  peer  of  any  member  of 
either  house.  The  place  of  his  birth  was 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  At  the  age  of  four 
years  he  was  left  fatherless  and  penniless.  Pov 
erty  being  his  early  teacher,  he  learned  lessons 
at  her  school  that  eminently  fitted  him  for  his 
distinguished  career.  It  made  him  also  the 
champion  of  the  poor  and  weak. 

His  marriage  at  the  age  of  19,  brought  to 
him  in  wedlock  a  companion  of  youth,  beauty, 
and  culture,  and  one  whose  love  never  waned. 
Though  poor  in  worldly  goods,  he  possessed  a 
character  untarnished  and  an  ambition  unflag 
ging.  Never  having  spent  a  day  in  school,  he, 


206  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

in  the  encounters  of  debate,  was  armed  cap-a-pie 
for  combat  with  graduates  of  the  best  colleges. 
How  can  it  be  explained?  At  night,  while  ply 
ing  his  needle,  the  talented  and  accomplished 
Eliza  McArdle  Johnson,  his  wife,  instructed  him 
in  all  branches  of  education.  His  career  was  a 
slow  and  steady  climb.  In  the  little  town  in 
East  Tennessee,  where  he  lived,  he  entered  pol 
itics,  and  became  first  an  alderman.  From  this 
he  was  elected  Mayor.  One  night,  speaking  to 
a  group  of  politicians  about  whom  they  were  to 
send  to  the  legislature,  he  said:  "I,  too,  am  in 
the  fight."  And  he  was  elected. 

Andrew  Johnson  went  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  in  1857.  He  had  a  cordial  dislike 
for  an  aristocrat,  and  Jefferson  Davis,  the  most 
perfect  example  of  such  an  estate,  aroused  him 
to  very  caustic  utterance.  One  day  Mr.  Davis 
critically  asked  him:  "What  do  you  mean  by 
the  laboring  classes?"  "Those  who  earn  their 
bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  face,  and  not  by 
fatiguing  their  ingenuity." 

When  the  hailstorm  of  disapproval  was  falling 
upon  Senator  Hammond  for  his  "mud-sill" 
speech,  Mr.  Johnson  said: 

In  one  sense  of  the  term  we  are  all  slaves.  A 
man  is  a  slave  to  his  ambition;  he  is  a  slave  to 
his  avarice;  he  is  a  slave  to  his  necessities;  and, 
in  enumerations  of  this  kind,  you  can  scarcely 
find  any  man,  high  or  low  in  society,  but  who, 
in  some  sense,  is  a  slave,  but  they  are  not  slaves 
in  the  sense  we  mean  at  the  South  and  it  will 
not  do  to  assume  that  every  man  who  toils  for 
his  living  is  a  slave.  If  that  be  so,  all  are  slaves; 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  207 

for  all  must  toil  more  or  less,  mentally  or  physi 
cally.  But  in  the  other  sense  of  the  term,  we  are 
not  slaves.  Will  it  do  to  assume  that  the 
man  who  labors  with  his  hands,  every  man  who 
is  an  operative  in  a  manufacturing  establishment, 
or  a  shop  is  a  slave?  No  sir,  that  will  not  do. 
Will  it  do  to  assume  that  every  man  who  does 
not  own  slaves,  but  has  to  live  by  his  own  labor, 
is  a  slave?  That  will  not  do.  If  it  were  true, 
it  would  be  very  unfortunate  for  a  good  many 
of  us,  and  especially  so  for  me.  I  am  a  laborer 
with  my  hands,  and  I  never  considered  myself 
a  slave  in  the  acceptance  of  the  term  slave  in 
the  South.  I  do  own  some ;  I  acquired  them  by 
my  industry,  by  the  labor  of  my  hands.  In  that 
sense  of  the  term  I  should  have  been  a  slave 
while  I  was  earning  them  with  the  labors  of  my 
hands. 

Mr.  Hammond:  Will  the  Senator  define  a 
slave? 

Mr.  Johnon :  What  we  understand  to  be  a 
slave  in  the  South,  is  a  person  who  is  held  to 
service  during  his  or  her  natural  life,  subject  to, 
and  under  the  control  of,  a  master  who  has  the 
right  to  appropriate  the  products  of  his  or  her 
labor  to  his  own  use.  The  necessities  of  life 
and  the  various  positions  in  which  a  man  may 
be  placed,  operated  upon  by  avarice,  gain,  or 
ambition,  may  cause  him  to  labor;  but  that  does 
not  make  a  slave.  How  many  men  are  there  in 
society  who  go  out  and  work  with  their  own 
hands,  who  reap  in  the  field,  and  mow  in  a 
meadow,  who  hoe  corn,  who  work  in  the  shops? 
Are  they  slaves?  If  we  were  to  go  back  and 


208  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

follow  the  idea,  that  every  operative,  and  laborer 
is  a  slave,  we  should  find  that  we  have  had  a 
great  many  distinguished  slaves  since  the  world 
commenced.  Socrates,  who  first  conceived  the 
dea  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  pagan  as  he 
j  .  labored  with  his  own  hands; — yes,  wielded 
h  chisel  and  the  mallet,  giving  polish,  and 
fi  h  to  the  stone;  he  afterwards  turned  to  be  a 
fashioner  and  constructor  of  the  mind.  Paul 
the  great  expounder,  himself  was  a  tent  maker, 
and  worked  with  his  hands;  was  he  a  slave? 
Archimedes,  who  declared  that,  if  he  had  a  place 
on  which  to  rest  the  fulcrum,  with  the  power  of 
his  lever  he  could  move  the  world;  was  he  a 
slave?  Adam,  our  great  father  and  head,  the 
lord  of  the  world,  was  a  tailor  by  trade;  I  won 
der  if  he  was  a  slave? 

When  we  talk  about  laborers  and  operatives, 
look  at  the  columns  that  adorn  this  Chamber, 
and  see  their  finish  and  style.  We  are  lost  in 
admiration  at  the  architecture  of  your  buildings, 
and  their  massive  columns.  We  can  speak  with 
admiration.  What  would  it  have  been  but  for 
hands  to  construct  it?  Was  the  artisan  who 
worked  upon  it  a  slave?  Let  us  go  to  the  South 
and  see  how  the  matter  stands  there.  Is  every 
man  that  is  not  a  slaveholder  to  be  denominated 
a  slave  because  he  labors?  Why  indulge  in  such 
a  notion?" 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  209 


XXV. 

JEFFERSON    DAVIS    AND    ROBERT    TOOMBS. 

When  Jefferson  Davis  first  became  United 
States  Senator  from  Mississippi  in  1847,  ne  was 
among  the  youngest  members  of  that  body.  It 
was  said  that  John  Quincy  Adams,  used  always 
to  take  a  seat  close  to  a  speaker  upon  the  occa 
sion  of  his  debut,  and  if  the  man  pleased  him  he 
remained  attentive,  otherwise  he  quickly  fled. 
Mr.  Davis  had  the  floor  one  day  soon  after 
taking  his  seat  in  the  Chamber,  and  Mr.  Adams 
moved  up.  As  the  speaker  proceeded,  the  "Old 
Man  Eloquent"  sat  there  listening  attentively, 
and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  speech,  he  remarked 
to  some  friends :  "That  man,  gentleman,  is  no 
ordinary  man.  He  will  make  his  mark  yet, 
mind  me." 

Mr.  Davis'  second  term  in  the  Senate  began  in 
1857.  Austere  in  manner,  with  the  bearing  of  a 
soldier,  and  the  tread  of  an  Indian  brave  on  the 
warpath,  he  was  a  figure  commanding  attention 
on  the  Senate  floor.  He  was  of  the  blue  blood 
of  the  South,  and  proud,  select,  polished.  His 
frame  was  more  delicate  than  strong;  his  coun 
tenance,  though  not  handsome,  was  good,  and 
bore  indications  of  the  high  spirit  within  the 
man.  He  seemed  always  to  be  absorbed  in 


2io  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

things  above  the  common  level,  not  much  of  a 
talker,  nor  easily  drawn  out.  Approachable  only 
by  his  associates  in  the  Senate,  I  always  consid 
ered  him  a  very  cold  man.  I  do  not  remember 
that  he  ever  smiled.  He  had  passed  through  so 
much,  with  Indian  campaigning  and  the  Mexican 
war,  that  his  nature  could  not  have  been  other 
wise,  probably,  than  it  was.  It  appears  to  make 
a  man's  disposition  reserved  and  cold,  when  he 
returns  to  every  day  life,  bearing  wounds  and 
the  marks  of  hardship  in  field  and  camp.  He 
must  have  had  great  depth  of  character, — depth 
of  soul;  aye,  it  is  manifest  by  his  record  in  the 
army,  and  in  the  Senate;  and  no  one  better 
could  have  been  selected  to  bear  the  burden  of 
awful  responsibility  in  administering  the  affairs 
of  the  Confederacy.  He  was  a  military  genius. 
His  West  Point  training,  and  his  Mexican  War 
experience,  gave  him  facility  to  grasp  military 
situations  and  to  issue  commands  to  an  army. 
He  had  surprised  the  commanders  of  the  world 
by  his  tactics  at  Buena  Vista,  where  he  was 
vastly  outnumbered,  and  by  placing  his  forces 
in  the  form  of  an  angle  with  the  apex  toward 
the  enemy,  instead  of  using  the  "hollow  square," 
he  twice  repulsed  the  advance  and  won  a  great 
victory. 

His  political  career  was  much  to  be  ad 
mired,  for  some  one  has  said  of  him  that  he  had 
the  defiance  of  Chatham,  was  as  scholarly  as 
Brougham,  elegant  in  diction  as  Canning, 
often  as  profound  as  Burke,  with  the  fervor  and 
zeal  of  Grattan,  and  the  subtelty  of  Fox.  His 
parliamentary  art  thus  comparing  with  the  best 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  211 

English  models,  his  standing  was  amongst  the 
foremost  in  the  American  Senate. 

How  strange  it  seems  now,  to  read  a  speech 
so  loyal  to  the  Union,  spoken  by  one  who  be 
came  President  of  a  Confederacy.  His  speech 
on  the  bill  to  increase  the  army,  is  in  part,  as 
follows  : 

Is  it  to  be  inferred  that  a  man  who  is  a  free 
man  at  his  birth,  who  has  all  the  spirit  of  repub 
licanism  in  his  heart,  is  to  lose  it  by  entering  the 
military  profession?  Is  it  true,  as  the  Senator 
from  Texas  has  told  us,  that  the  service  in  the 
army  stultifies  young  men?  it  cannot  be.  He 
is  a  bright  example  of  the  reverse  himself.  It 
was  his  proud  fortune  to  rise  from  the  ranks  by 
his  own  merit  to  a  commissioned  officer,  to  serve 
in  the  army,  and  there  to  acquire  many  of  those 
qualities,  endowments,  and  graces  which  have 
adorned  this  Chamber;  he  stands  in  himself  a 
brilliant  example  of  how  little  the  army  stultifies, 
and  how  much  it  may  exalt  the  youth  contained 
in  its  ranks.  We  have  other  and  great  exam 
ples.  Did  Washington  become  the  fit  instrument 
of  a  despotism?  was  he  stultified  because  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  United  States  in  his 
youth?  That  great  mind  which  comprehended 
the  whole  condition  of  the  Colonies ;  that  heart 
that  beat  sympathetically  for  ever  portion  of 
his  common  country,  feeling  equally  for  Massa 
chusetts,  and  South  Carolina,  for  New  York 
and  Virginia,  that  great  arm  which  smoothed 
the  thorny  path  of  revolution,  and  led  the  Col 
onies  from  rational  up  to  National  independence, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  that  prosperity 


212  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

greatness  which  have  made  us  a  people  not  only 
as  an  example  for  the  whole  world,  but  a  protec 
tion  to  liberal  principles  wherever  liberty  asserts 
a  right — was  he  stultified  by  service  in  the  army  ? 
Jackson  too  the  indomitable  Jackson,  who  when 
a  boy  and  a  captive,  spurned  the  insult  of  a 
despot,  and  for  asserting  his  personal  dignity  re 
ceived  a  wound,  a  scar  of  which  he  carried  to 
his  grave — was  he  by  service  in  the  army,  when 
yet  a  minor,  by  brilliant  exploits  in  middle  age, 
rendered  the  fit  instrument  of  despotism?  If  it 
be  said  that  these  were  men  drawn  from  the 
pursuits  of  civil  life  and  only  ocassionally  em 
ployed  in  the  military  service  what,  then,  shall 
be  said  of  the  great,  the  good,  heroic  Taylor? 
for  a  hero  he  was,  not  in  the  mere  vulgar  sense 
of  animal  courage,  but  in  the  higher  and  nobler 
attributes  of  generosity  and  clemency.  His  was 
an  eye  that  looked  unquailing  when  the  mes 
sengers  of  death  were  flying  around  him;  but  in 
the  ward  room,  over  his  wounded  comrades,  was 
dimmed  by  the  tear  of  a  soldier's  love  and  com 
passion.  His  was  a  self-reliant,  resolute  heart, 
which  arose  under  accumulated  difficulties,  and 
hardened  by  contact  with  danger;  but  that  heart 
melted  to  a  woman's  softness  at  the  wail  of  the 
helpless,  or  the  appeal  of  the  vanquished.  He 
was  a  hero,  a  moral  hero.  His  heart  was  his 
country's,  and  his  life  had  been  his  country's 
own  through  all  its  stages.  Was  he  the  fit  in 
strument  of  a  despot  to  be  used  for  the  over 
throw  of  the  liberties  of  the  United  States? 

Shall  I  prove  my  proposition  by  going  on  and 
multiplying  examples;  or  is  not  apparent  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  213 

whatever  may  be  true  of  the  history  of  Rome, 
whatever  may  be  true  of  the  condition  of  Eu 
rope,  that  the  United  States  stands  out  its  own 
founder  and  its  own  example?  No  other  peopie 
like  our  own  ever  founded  a  State.  No  other  peo 
ple  like  our  own  have  ever  thus  elevated  a  State 
to  such  greatness  in  so  small  a  space  of  time.  If 
there  be  evidence  of  decay,  that  decay  is  not  to 
be  found  in  the  spirit  of  your  little  army,  but  is 
to  be  hunted  for  in  the  impurities  of  your 
politicians.  It  therefore  does  not  become  the 
politician  to  point  to  our  little  and  gallant  and 
devoted  army,  as  the  incipient  danger  which  is 
to  overthrow  the  liberties  of  this  country. 


As  I  revert  to  the  days  of  the  35th  Congress, 
with  the  knowledge  of  subsequent  history  in  my 
mind,  the  name  of  Robert  Toombs  is  indissolubly 
linked  with  that  of  Jefferson  Davis;  not  because 
of  any  similiarity  of  the  two  men,  but  because 
upon  them  conjointly  is  laid  most  of  the  blame 
for  precipitating  the  war  of  rebellion,  and  be 
tween  them  rested  the  choice  of  a  Chief  Execu 
tive  for  the  Confederate  States. 

Robert  Toombs,  Senator  from  Georgia,  was 
one  of  the  most  forcible  speakers  on  that  his 
toric  floor.  He  was  like  a  lion  both  in  appear 
ance  and  in  actions;  fearless,  bold,  powerfully 
built,  and  with  a  voice  of  thunder.  He  reminded 
me  always  of  Edwin  Forrest  in  the  character  of 
Jack  Cade,  the  bondman  of  Kent.  As  with  all 
good  lawyers  he  was  never  without  proper  in- 


214  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

formation  before  him,  and  in  debate  he  could 
throw  down  the  gauntlet  to  anyone.  Like  Mira- 
beau,  whom  he  also  probably  resembled,  he 
chose  rather  than  employ  ornate  language,  to 
strike  as  with  a  sledge-hammer,  blows  with 
words  of  the  utmost  weight,  meanwhile  shaking 
his  head  and  pounding  with  his  clenched  fists 
upon  his  desk.  He  could  speak  for  several  hours 
without  the  least  sign  of  fatigue,  and  the  Senate 
gave  him  undivided  attention.  He  also  had  a 
habit  of  rising  on  his  toes,  and  then  striking  his 
heels  hard  on  the  floor. 

Mr.  Toombs  was  born  in  Georgia,  in  1810. 
His  education  was  acquired  at  the  University  of 
Georgia,  Union  College,  New  York,  and  the 
University  of  Virginia.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  of  the 
South,  his  fortune  being  estimated  at  half  a 
million  dollars. 

When  Lnicoln  was  elected  President  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Toombs  was  so  inflamed  with 
passion  that  he  very  diligently  urged  secession, 
and  to  add  greater  emphasis  to  disorder,  inform 
ally  left  the  Senate,  for  which  act  he  was 
expelled. 

In  the  cabinet  of  the  Confederacy,  he  quar 
reled  with  Mr.  Davis  and  resigned  the  portfolio 
to  enter  the  army.  He  was  commissioned  a 
brigadier  general. 

From  a  section  of  a  speech,  delivered  in  May, 
1858,  inveighing  against  British  aggressions  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  one  may  receive  a  fair  im 
pression  of  the  man's  style. 

Mr.  Tombs:  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  argue 


H.  HAMMOND.         ^OHM  C.BRECK«NR>00E.. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  215 

the  right  of  any  nation  to  visit  or  to  search 
American  ships  in  time  of  peace.  I  consider 
that  argument  to  have  been  exhausted;  that 
question  to  have  been  settled  for  the  last  forty 
years  by  the  American  people.  It  was  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  last  war  with  England.  It  was 
not  settled  at  the  treaty  of  Ghent;  but  it  was 
there  given  to  be  distinctly  understood  by  the 
American  negotiators,  and  it  has  been  uniformly 
affirmed  by  this  Government,  that  whenever 
exercised,  we  should  consider  it  a  belligerent  act. 
Therefore,  there  is  but  one  point  in  this  case: 
if  these  belligerent  acts  of  search  have  been  done 
by  the  authority  of  the  British  Government,  they 
are  acts  of  war  that  ought  to  be  resisted  by 
force;  and  we  want  not  measures  of  prevention 
in  the  future,  but  redress  for  the  insult  in  the 
past.  We  want  something  more  than  the  reso 
lutions  the  committee  offer  to  give  us  here. 
We  want  something  more  than  pledges  and 
securities  that  belligerent  acts  will  not  be  com 
mitted  in  the  future.  WTe  want  satisfaction  for 
the  committal  of  these  acts,  if  they  have  been 
done  by  authority  of  the  British  Government, 
they  are  acts  of  war  that  we  ought  to  resist  by 
force  and  resist  now.  If  they  have  been  done 
without  their  authority,  we  ought  to  seize  these 
vessels,  to  prevent  the  performance  of  those  acts, 
not  only  against  the  laws  of  nations,  but  against 
our  rights,  and  against  the  authority  of  their 
own  Government. 

Therefore  I  shall  vote  for  a  resolution  that 
will  not  only  send  our  Navy  there  to  prevent  the 


216  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

continuance  of  this  war  upon  our  commerce,  but 
will  seize  the  vessels  which  have  committed 
these  hostilities,  with  or  without  the  authority 
of  the  British  Government.  That  Government 
is  too  far  off.  We  cannot  afford  to  have  our 
houses  searched  while  waiting  to  hear  what  they 
have  to  say.  It  is  not  allowable,  I  believe,  for 
the  humblest  man  in  Great  Britain  or  in  this 
country,  to  have  his  house  searched,  even  with 
a  general  warrant.  The  British  resisted  that  a 
hundred  years  ago.  Our  Constitution  protects 
us  against  it.  We  are  free  from  it  by  our  own 
Constitution  except  under  the  most  stringent 
circumstances;  but  Great  Britain,  a  foreign 
Government,  without  any  pretense,  without  any 
form  of  law,  claims  the  right  of  disgracing  our 
flag,  and  searching  our  vessels  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  at  our  doors.  Will  you  send  across  the 
water,  and  have  negotiation  while  these  things 
are  going  on?  Every  gale  that  wafts  a  sail  from 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  brings  here  accounts  of  new 
wrongs  and  new  outrages;  and  I  suppose  we 
must  send  to  England  to  know  if  she  warrants 
the  acts  of  this  fleet  who  are  roving  over  seas, 
free  rovers,  violating  our  declared  rights  that 
we  have  stood  by  for  forty  years,  to  know  if  it 
is  by  the  authority  of  their  masters?  The  mili 
tary  force  of  the  country  should  be  sent  to  the 
Gulf,  and  it  should  seize  or  sink  the  aggressors, 
and  get  explanation  afterwards.  If  it  is  against 
their  orders,  we  have  treated  them  right;  if  it 
is  not  against  their  orders,  we  have  treated 
England  right;  so  that  in  any  event,  I  shall  vote 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  217 

for  that  measure  which  will  seize  the  British 
aggressors  on  our  rights  and  bring  them  to  our 
ports  for  condign  punishment,  and  I  shall  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  it." 


2i8  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGB 


XXVI. 

PASSING    FROM    THE   OLD    CHAMBER. 

In  all  the  four  years  of  my  experience  in  the 
Senate,  I  was  never  more  deeply  impressed  than 
on  this  occasion,  when  the  whole  body  of  Sen 
ators  took  leave  of  the  old  chamber.  (January 
4,  1859.) 

Vive-President  Breckinridge  delivered  the 
principal  oration  of  the  day,  in  a  voice  with  a 
silver  clarion  ring.  His  words  were  fit  and  strik 
ing,  and  the  sentiments  so  thoughtful.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  attractive  men  in  the  Senate, 
being  of  a  good  height,  with  a  handsome  face, 
intellectual  head,  and  imperious  presence.  A 
popular  idol  in  Kentucky,  he  made  so  rapid  an 
assent  on  the  ladder  of  political  honors,  that  he 
gained  the  Vice-Presidency  almost  at  a  bound. 
He  was  the  youngest  man  who  had  ever  ad 
vanced  to  that  distinguished  post,  he  being  but 
thirty-five  years  of  age  when  elected  to  it. 

The  program  for  the  dav  was  arranged  with 
much  ceremony.  Mr.  Crittenden,  as  the  longest 
in  service,  held  the  floor  of  the  Senate  as  the 
first  speaker,  and  naturally  dropped  into  reminis 
cent  mood,  saying: 

I  hope  I  may  be  indulged  in  a  few  words  of 
parting  from  this  Chamber.  This  is  to  be  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  219 

last  day  of  our  session  here;  and  this  place, 
which  has  known  us  so  long,  is  to  know  us  no 
more  forever  as  a  Senate.  The  parting  seems  to 
me  sir,  to  be  somewhat  of  a  solemn  one,  and  full 
of  eventful  recollections.  I  wish  however,  only 
to  say  a  few  words.  Many  associations  pleasant 
and  proud,  bind  us  and  our  hearts  to  this  place. 
We  cannot  but  feel  their  influence,  especially  I, 
Mr.  President,  whose  lot  it  has  been  to  serve  in 
this  body  more  years  than  any  other  member 
present.  That  we  should  all  be  attached  to  it,  is 
most  natural.  Mr.  President  we  cannot  quit  this 
Chamber  without  some  feeling  of  sacred  sadness. 
This  Chamber  has  been  the  scene  of  great  events. 
Here  questions  of  American  Constitution  and 
laws  have  be*m  debated  and  decided ;  questions 
of  empire  have  occupied  the  attention  of  this 
assemblage  in  times  past;  this  was  the  grand 
theater  upon  which  these  things  have  been  en 
acted.  They  give  a  sort  of  consecrated  character 
to  this  Hall. 

Sir,  great  men  have  been  the  actors  here.  The 
illustrations  dead,  that  have  distinguished  this 
body  in  times  past,  naturally  rise  to  our  view  on 
such  an  occasion.  I  speak  only  of  what  I  have 
seen,  and  but  partially  of  that,  when  I  say  that 
here,  within  these  walls,  I  have  seen  men  whose 
fame  is  not  surpassed,  and  whose  power  and 
ability  and  patriotism  are  not  surpassed,  by  any 
of  Grecian  or  Roman  name.  I  have  seen  Clay 
and  Webster,  Calhoun  and  Benton,  Leigh  and 
Wright,  and  Clayton,  (last  though  not  least), 
mingling  together  in  this  body  at  one  time,  and 
uniting  their  counsels  for  the  benefit  of  their 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

country.  They  seem  to  our  imaginations  and 
sensibilities,  on  such  an  occasion  as  this  to  have 
left  their  impress  on  these  very  walls;  and  this 
majestic  dome  seems  almost  yet  to  echo  with  the 
voice  of  their  eloquence.  This  Hall  seems  to  be 
a  local  habitation  for  their  names.  This  Hall  is 
full  of  the  pure  odor  of  their  justly-earned  fame. 
There  are  others  besides  those  I  have  named,  of 
whom  I  will  not  speak,  because  they  have  not  yet 
closed  their  career — not  yet  ended  their  services 
to  the  country ;  and  they  will  receive  their  reward 
hereafter.  There  are  hosts  of  others  I  might 
mention — that  deserve  to  be  mentioned — but  it 
would  take  too  long.  Their  names  are  in  no 
danger  of  being  forgotten,  nor  their  services  un- 
thought  of  or  unhonored. 

Sir,  we  leave  behind  us,  in  going  from  this 
Hall,  these  associations,  these  proud  imagina 
tions  so  well  calculated  to  prompt  to  a  generous 
emulation  of  their  services  to  their  country;  but 
we  will  carry  along  with  us  to  the  New  Chamber 
to  which  we  are  to  go,  the  spirit  and  the  memory 
of  all  these  things ;  we  will  carry  with  us  all  the 
inspiration  which  our  illustrious  predecessors  are 
calculated  to  give;  and  wherever  we  sit  we  shall 
be  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  of  America — 
a  great,  a  powerful,  a  conservative  body  in  the 
government  of  this  country,  and  a  body  that  will 
maintain,  as  I  trust  and  believe,  under  all  cir 
cumstances,  and  in  all  times  to  come,  the  honor, 
the  right,  and  the  glory  of  this  country.  Because 
we  leave  this  Chamber,  we  shall  not  leave  behind 
us  any  sentiment  of  patriotism,  any  devotion  to 
the  country  which  the  illustrious  that  have  gone 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENA?E  PAGE 

before  us  have  set  to  us.  They  like  our  house- 
sold  gods,  will  be  carried  with  us;  and  we  the 
representatives  of  the  States  of  this  mighty 
Union,  will  be  found  always  equal,  I  trust  to  the 
exigencies  of  any  time  that  come  upon  our  coun 
try.  No  matter  under  what  sky  we  may  sit;  no 
matter  what  dome  may  cover  us;  the  great 
patriotic  spirit  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
will  be  there;  and  I  have  an  abiding  confidence 
that  it  will  never  fail  in  the  performance  of  its 
duty,  sit  where  it  may,  even  though  it  were  in  a 
desert. 

But  it  is  yet  sir,  not  possible  to  leave  this 
Hall  without  casting  behind  us  many  longing 
and  lingering  looks.  It  has  been  the  scene  of  the 
past;  the  new  Chamber  is  to  be  the  scene  of  the 
future,  I  hope  it  will  not  be  dishonored  by  any 
comparison  to  be  made  with  the  past.  It,  too,  will 
have  its  illustrations  of  great  public  services  ren 
dered  by  great  men  and  great  patriots ;  and  this 
body,  the  great  preservative  element  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  will  discharge  all  its  duties,  taking  care 
to  preserve  the  Union  of  the  States  which  they 
represent — the  source  of  all  their  honors,  the 
source  of  the  trust  which  they  sit  here  to  execute, 
the  source  as  it  has  been  and  as  it  will  be  of  their 
country's  greatness,  happiness,  and  prosperity,  in 
times  to  come  as  it  has  been  in  the  time  that  is 
past. 


The  Vice-President.     Senators, — I  have  been 
charged  by  the  committee  to  whom  you  confided 


222  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

the  arrangements  of  this  day  with  the  duty  of 
expressing  some  of  the  reflections  that  naturally 
occur  in  taking  final  leave  of  a  Chamber  which 
has  so  long  been  occupied  by  the  Senate.  In  the 
progress  of  our  country  and  the  growth  of  the 
representation,  this  room  has  become  too  con 
tracted  for  the  representatives  of  the  States  now 
existing  and  soon  to  exist;  and  accordingly  you 
are  about  to  exchange  it  for  a  Hall  affording 
accommodations  adequate  to  the  present  and 
future.  The  occasion  suggests  many  interesting 
reminiscences;  and  it  may  be  agreeable,  in  the 
first  place,  to  occupy  a  few  minutes  with  a  short 
account  of  the  various  places  at  which  Congress 
has  assembled,  of  the  struggles  which  preceded 
the  permanent  location  of  the  Seat  of  Govern 
ment,  and  of  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  finally  established  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac. 

The  Congress  of  the  Revolution  was  some 
times  a  fugitive,  holding  its  sessions,  as  the 
chances  of  war  required,  at  Philadelphia,  Balti 
more,  Lancaster,  Annapolis,  and  Yorktown. 
During  the  period  between  the  conclusion  of 
peace  and  the  commencement  of  the  present 
Government,  it  met  at  Princeton,  Annapolis, 
Trenton  and  New  York.  After  the  idea  of  a 
permanent  Union  had  been  executed  in  part  by 
the  adoption  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  the 
question  presented  itself  of  fixing  a  Seat  of  Gov 
ernment,  and  this  immediately  called  forth 
intense  interest  and  rivalry. 

That  the  place  should  be  central,  having  regard 
to  the  population  and  territory  of  the  Cenfeder- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  223 

ftcy,  was  the  only  point  common  to  the  contending 
parties.  Propositions  of  all  kinds  were  offered, 
debated,  and  rejected,  some  time  with  intemper 
ate  warmth.  At  length,  on  the  7th  of  October, 
1783,  the  Congress  being  at  Princeton,  whither 
they  had  been  driven  from  Philadelphia,  by  the 
insults  of  a  body  of  armed  men,  it  was  resolved 
that  a  building  for  the  use  of  Congress  be 
erected  near  the  falls  of  the  Delaware.  This  was 
soon  after  modified  by  requiring  suitable  build 
ings  to  be  also  erected  near  the  falls  of  the 
Potomac,  that  the  residence  of  Congress  might 
alternate  between  those  places.  But  the  question 
was  not  allowed  to  rest,  and  at  length,  after  fre 
quent  and  warm  debates,  it  was  resolved  that 
the  residence  of  Congress  should  continue  at  one 
place;  and  Commissioners  were  appointed,  with 
full  power  to  lay  out  a  district  for  a  Federal 
town  near  the  falls  of  the  Delaware,  and  in  the 
mean  time  Congress  assembled  alternately  at 
Trenton  and  Annapolis,  but  the  representatives 
of  other  States  were  unremitting  in  exertions  for 
their  respective  localities.  On  the  23d  of  Decem 
ber,  1784  it  was  resolved  to  remove  to  the  City 
of  New  York,  and  to  remain  there  until  the 
building  on  the  Delaware  should  be  completed; 
and  accordingly  on  the  nth  of  January,  1785, 
the  Congress  met  at  New  York,  where  they  con 
tinued  to  hold  their  sessions  until  the  Confedera 
tion  gave  place  to  the  Constitution.  The  Com 
missioners  charged  to  lay  out  a  town  on  the  Dela 
ware,  reported  their  proceedings  to  Congress  ;  but 
no  further  steps  were  taken  to  carry  the  resolu 
tion  into  effect. 


224  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

When  the  bonds  of  Union  were  drawn  closer 
by  the  organization  of  the  New  Government  un 
der  the  Constitution,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1789, 
the  subject  was  revived  and  discussed  with 
greater  warmth  than  before.  It  was  conceded 
on  all  sides  that  the  residence  of  Congress  should 
continue  at  one  place,  and  the  prospect  of  stabil 
ity  in  the  Government  invested  the  question  with 
a  deeper  interest.  Some  members  proposed  New 
York  as  being  "superior  to  any  place  they  knew 
for  the  orderly  and  descent  behavior  of  its  inhab 
itants."  To  this  it  was  answered  that  it  was  not 
desirable  that  the  political  Capital  should  be  a 
commercial  metropolis.  Others  ridiculed  the 
idea  of  building  palaces  in  the  woods.  Mr. 
Gerry  of  Massachusetts  thought  it  highly  unrea 
sonable  to  fix  the  Seat  of  Government  in  such 
a  position  as  to  have  nine  States  of  the  thirteen, 
to  the  northward  of  the  place;  while  the  South 
Carolinians  objected  to  Philadelphia  on  account 
of  the  number  of  Quakers,  who,  they  said,  con 
tinually  annoyed  the  Southern  members  with 
schemes  of  emancipation.  In  the  midst  of  these 
disputes,  the  House  of  Representatives  resolved, 
"that  the  permanent  Seat  of  Government  ought  to 
be  at  some  convenient  place  on  the  banks  of  the 
Susquehanna."  On  the  introduction  of  a  bill  to 
give  effect  to  this  resolution,  much  feeling  was 
exhibited,  especially  by  the  Southern  members. 
Mr.  Madison  thought  if  the  proceedings  of  that 
day  had  been  forseen  by  Virginia,  that  State 
might  not  have  become  a  party  to  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  question  was  allowed  by  every  mem 
ber  to  be  a  matter  of  great  importance.  Mr. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  225 

Scott  said  the  future  tranquility  and  well-being 
of  the  United  States  depended  as  much  on  this 
as  on  any  question  that  ever  had,  or  could,  come 
before  Congress;  and  Mr.  Fisher  Ames  re 
marked  that  every  principle  of  pride  and  honor 
and  even  of  patriotism  were  engaged.  For  a 
time,  any  agreement  appeared  to  be  impossible; 
but  the  good  genius  of  our  system  finally  pre 
vailed,  and  on  the  28th  of  June,  1790,  an  act 
was  passed  containing  the  following  clause: 
"That  a  distinct  territory  on  the  river  Potomac, 
at  some  place  between  the  mouths  of  the  eastern 
branch  and  the  Connogocheague,  be  and  the 
same  is  hereby  accepted,  for  the  permanent  Seat 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States."  The 
same  act  provided  that  Congress  should  hold  its 
sessions  at  Philadelphia  until  the  first  Monday  in 
November,  1800,  when  the  Government  should 
remove  to  the  district  selected  on  the  Potomac. 
Thus  was  settled  a  question  which  had  produced 
much  sectional  feeling  between  the  States.  But 
all  difficulties  were  not  yet  surmounted ;  for  Con 
gress,  either  from  indifference,  or  the  want  of 
money,  failed  to  make  adequate  appropriations 
for  the  erection  of  pubic  buildings,  and  the  Com 
missioners  were  often  reduced  to  great  straits  to 
maintain  the  progress  of  the  work.  Finding  it 
impossible  to  borrow  money  in  Europe,  or  obtain 
it  from  Congress,  Washington,  in  December, 
1796,  made  a  personal  appeal  to  the  Legislature 
of  Maryland,  which  was  responded  to  by  an  ad 
vance  of  $100,000;  but  in  so  deplorable  a  condi 
tion  was  the  credit  of  the  Federal  Government 
that  the  State  required,  as  a  guarantee  of  pay- 


1226  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

ment,  the  pledge  of  the  private  credit  of  the 
Commissioners. 

From  the  beginning,  Washington  had  advo 
cated  the  present  Seat  of  Government.  Its 
establishment  here  was  due,  in  a  large 'measure 
to  his  influence ;  it  was  his  wisdom  and  prudence 
that  computed  disputes  and  settled  conflicting 
titles;  and  it  was  chiefly  through  his  personal 
influence  that  the  funds  were  provided  to  prepare 
the  buildings  for  the  reception  of  the  President 
and  Congress. 

The  wings  of  the  Capitol  having  been  suffici 
ently  prepared,  the  Government  removed  to  this 
District  on  the  i/th  of  November,  1800;  or  as 
Mr.  Wolcott  expressed  it,  left  the  comforts  of 
Philadelphia,  "to  go  to  the  Indian  place  with  the 
long  name,  in  the  woods  on  the  Potomac."  I 
will  not  pause  to  describe  the  appearance  at  that 
day,  of  the  place  where  the  city  was  to  be. 
Contemporary  accounts  represent  it  as  desolate  in 
the  extreme,  with  its  long,  unopened  avenues  and 
streets,  its  deep  morasses,  and  its  vast  area 
covered  with  trees  instead  of  houses.  It  is  enough 
to  say  that  Washington  projected  the  whole  plan 
upon  a  scale  of  centuries,  and  that  time  enough 
remains  to  fill  the  measure  of  his  great  concep 
tion. 

The  Senate  continued  to  occupy  the  north 
wing  and  the  House  of  Representatives  the 
south  wing  of  the  Capitol,  until  the  24th  day  of 
August  1814,  when  the  British  Army  entered 
the  city  and  burned  the  public  buildings.  This 
occured  during  the  recess,  and  the  President  im 
mediately  convened  the  Congress.  Both  Houses 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  227 

met  in  a  brick  building  known  as  Blodget's  Ho 
tel,  which  occupied  a  part  of  the  square  now 
covered  by  the  General  Post  Office.  But  the  ac 
commodations  in  that  house  being  insufficient  a 
number  of  public  spirited  citizens  erected  a  more 
commodious  building  on  Capitol  Hill,  and  tend 
ered  it  to  Congress ;  the  offer  was  accepted,  and 
both  houses  continued  to  occupy  it  until  the 
wings  of  the  new  Capitol  were  completed.  This 
building  yet  stands  on  the  street,  opposite  to  the 
northeastern  corner  of  the  Capitol  Square,  and 
has  since  been  occasionally  occupied  by  persons 
employed  in  different  branches  of  the  public 
service. 

On  the  6th  of  December,  1819,  the  Senate 
assembled  for  the  first  time  in  this  Chamber, 
which  has  been  the  theater  of  their  deliberations 
for  more  than  thirty-nine  years,  and  now  that  the 
strifes  and  uncertainties  of  the  past  are  finished, 
we  see  around  us  on  every  side  the  proof  of  sta 
bility  and  improvement ;  this  Capitol  is  worthy  of 
the  Republic;  noble  public  buildings  meet  the 
view  on  every  hand ;  treasures  of  science  and  the 
arts  begin  to  accumulate.  As  this  flourishing 
city  enlarges,  it  testifies  to  the  wisdom  and  fore 
sight  that  dictated  the  plan  of  it.  Future  gener 
ations  will  not  be  disturbed  by  questions  concern 
ing  the  center  of  population,  or  of  territory,  since 
the  steamboat,  the  railroad,  and  the  telegraph 
have  made  communication  almost  instantaneous. 
The  spot  is  sacred  to  a  thousand  memories,  which 
are  so  many  pledges  that  the  City  of  Washington 
founded  by  him  and  bearing  his  revered  name, 
,with  its  beautful  site,  on  picturesque  eminences, 


228  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

and  the  broad  Potomac,  and  lying  within  view  of 
his  home  and  tomb,  shall  remain  forever  the  po 
litical  capital  of  the  United  States. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  note  the  gradual 
changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  practical 
working  of  the  Government,  since  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution ;  and,  it  may  be  appropriate  to 
this  occasion  to  remark  one  of  the  most  striking 
of  them: 

At  the  origin  of  the  Government,  the  Senate 
seemed  to  be  regarded  chiefly  as  an  executive 
council.  The  President  often  visited  the  Cham 
ber  and  conferred  personally  with  this  body; 
most  of  its  business  was  transacted  with  closed 
doors,  and  it  took  comparatively  little  part  in  the 
legislative  debates.  The  rising  and  vigorous  in 
tellects  of  the  country  sought  the  arena  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  as  the  appropriate  the 
ater  for  the  display  of  their  powers.  Mr.  Madi 
son  observed,  on  some  occasion,  that  being  a 
young  man,  and  desiring  to  increase  his  reputa 
tion,  he  could  not  afford  to  enter  the  Senate,  and 
it  will  be  remembered,  that,  so  late  as  1812,  the 
great  debates  which  preceded  the  war  and  aroused 
the  country  to  the  assertion  of  its  rights  took 
place  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress.  To  such 
an  extent  was  the  idea  of  seclusion  carried,  that 
no  seats  were  prepared  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  public;  and  it  was  not  until  many  years  af 
terwards  that  the  semi-circular  gallery  was  erect 
ed  which  admits  the  people  to  be  witnesses  of 
your  proceedings.  But  now,  the  Senate,  besides 
its  peculiar  relations  to  the  executive  depart 
ments  of  the  Government,  assumes  its  full  share 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  229 

of  duty  as  a  co-equal  branch  of  the  Legislature; 
indeed,  from  the  limited  number  of  its  members, 
and  for  other  obvious  reasons,  the  most  import 
ant  questions,  especially  of  foreign  policy,  are 
apt  to  pass  first  under  discussion  in  this  body, 
and  to  be  a  member  of  it  is  justly  regarded  as 
one  of  the  highest  honors  which  can  be  con 
ferred  on  an  American  statesman. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  the  causes 
of  this  change,  or  to  say  that  it  is  a  concession 
both  to  the  importance  and  the  individuality  of 
the  States,  and  to  the  open  and  free  character 
of  the  Government.  In  connection  with  this  easy 
but  thorough  transition,  it  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  it  has  been  effected  without  a  charge  from 
any  quarter,  that  the  Senate  has  transcended  its 
constitutional  sphere — a  tribute  at  once  to  the 
moderation  of  the  Senate,  and  another  proof  to 
thoughtful  men,  of  the  comprehensive  wisdom 
which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  possessed. 

The  progress  of  this  popular  movement,  in  one 
aspect  of  it,  has  been  steady  and  marked.  At  the 
origin  of  the  Government  no  arrangements  in  the 
Senate  were  made  for  spectators;  in  this  Cham 
ber  about  one-third  of  the  space  is  allotted  to  the 
public;  and  in  the  new  apartment,  the  galleries 
cover  two-thirds  of  its  area.  In  all  free  countries 
the  admission  of  the  people  to  witness  legislative 
proceedings  is  an  essential  element  of  public  con 
fidence;  and  it  is  not  to  be  anticipated  that  this 
wholesome  principle  will  ever  be  abused  by  the 
substitution  of  partial  and  interested  demonstra 
tions  for  the  expression  of  material  and  enlight 
ened  public  opinion.  Yet  it  should  never  be  for- 


230  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

gotten  that  not  France,  but  the  turbulent  specta 
tors  within  the  hall  armed  and  controlled  the 
French  Assembly.  With  this  lesson  and  its  con 
sequences  before  us,  the  time  will  never  come 
when  the  deliberations  of  the  Senate  shall  be 
swayed  by  the  blandishments  or  the  thunders  of 
the  galleries. 

It  is  impossible  to  disconnect  from  an  occasion 
like  this  a  crowd  of  reflections  on  our  own  past 
history,  and  of  speculations  on  the  future.  The 
most  meagre  accounts  of  the  Senate  involves  a 
summary  of  the  progress  of  our  country.  From 
year  to  year  you  have  seen  your  representation 
enlarge;  time  and  again  you  have  proudly  wel 
comed  a  new  sister  into  the  Confederacy;  and  the 
occurrences  of  this  day  are  a  material  and  im 
pressive  proof  of  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
he  United  States.  Three  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  Senate  mark  in  striking  contrast  three  epochs 
in  the  history  of  the  Union.  On  the  3d  of  March, 
1789,  when  the  Government  wras  organized  under 
the  Constitution,  the  Senate  was  composed  of  the 
representatives  of  eleven  States,  containing  three 
million  people.  On  the  6th  of  December,  1819, 
when  the  Senate  met  for  the  first  time  in  this 
room,  it  was  composed  of  the  representatives  of 
twenty-one  States,  containing  nine  million  people. 
|  To-day  it  is  composed  of  the  representatives 
of  thirty-two  States,  containing  more  than  twen 
ty-eight  million  people,  prosperous,  happy,  and 
still  devoted  to  constitutional  liberty.  Let  these 
great  facts  speak  for  themselves  to  all  the  world. 
The  career  of  the  United  States  cannot  be  mea 
sured  by  that  of  any  other  people  of  whom  his- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  231 

tory  gives  account;  and  the  mind  is  almost  ap 
palled  at  the  contemplation  of  the  prodigious 
force  which  has  marked  their  progress.  Sixty- 
nine  years,  thirteen  States,  containing  three 
millions  of  inhabitants,  burdened  with  debt 
and  exhausted  by  the  long  war  of  indepen 
dence,  established  for  their  common  good  a 
free  Constitution,  on  principles  new  to  man 
kind,  and  began  their  experiment  with  the 
good  wishes  of  a  few  doubting  friends  and 
the  derision  of  the  world.  Look  at  the  result  to 
day  !  Twenty-eight  millions  of  people,  in  every 
way  happier  than  an  equal  number  in  any  other 
part  of  the  globe !  The  centre  of  population  and 
political  power  descending  the  western  slope  of 
the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  the  original  thir- 
tee  States  forming  but  the  eastern  margin  on  the 
map  of  our  vast  possessions ;  see,  besides,  Christi 
anity,  civilization,  and  the  arts  given  to  a  conti 
nent;  the  despised  colonies  grown  into  a  Power 
of  the  first  class,  representing  and  protecting 
ideas  that  involve  the  progress  of  the  human 
race ;  a  commerce  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
nation;  every  variety  of  climate,  soil,  and  pro 
duction  to  make  a  people  powerful  and  happy; 
free  interchange  between  the  States — in  a  word, 
behold  present  greatness,  and,  in  the  future,  an 
empire  to  which  the  ancient  mistress  of  the  world 
in  the  height  of  her  glory  could  not  be  compared. 
Such  is  our  country;  ay,  and  more — far  more 
than  my  mind  could  conceive  or  my  tongue  could 
utter.  Is  there  an  American  who  regrets  the  past? 
Is  there  one  who  will  deride  his  country's  laws, 
pervert  her  Constitution,  or  alienate  her  people? 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE 

If  there  be  such  a  man  let  his  memory  descend  to 
posterity  laden  with  the  execrations  of  all  man 
kind. 

So  happy  is  the  political  and  social  condition 
of  the  United  States,  and  so  accustomed  are  we 
to  the  secure  enjoyment  of  a  freedom  elsewhere 
unknown,  that  we  are  apt  to  undervalue  the  treas 
ures  we  possess,  and  to  lose  in  some  degree  the 
sense  of  obligation  to  our  forefathers.  But  when 
the  strifes  of  faction  shake  the  Government,  and 
even  threaten  it,  we  may  pause  with  advantage 
long  enough  to  remember  that  we  are  reaping 
the  reward  of  other  men's  labors.  This  liberty 
we  inherit;  this  admirable  Constitution  which 
has  survived  peace  and  war,  prosperity  and  ad 
versity  ;  this  double  scheme  of  Government,  State 
and  Federal,  so  peculiar  and  so  little  understood 
by  other  Powers,  yet  which  protects  the  earn 
ings  of  industry,  and  makes  the  largest  personal 
freedom  compatible  with  public  order.  These 
great  results  were  not  acquired  without  wisdom 
and  toil  and  blood.  The  touching  and  heroic 
record  is  before  the  world ;  but  to  all  this  we  were 
born,  and  like  heirs  upon  whom  has  been  cast  a 
great  inheritance,  have  only  the  high  duty  to 
preserve,  to  extend,  and  to  adorn  it.  The  grand 
productions  of  the  era  in  which  the  foundations 
of  the  Government  were  laid,  reveal  the  deep 
sense  its  founders  had  of  their  obligations  to  the 
whole  family  of  man.  Let  us  never  forget  that 
the  responsibilities  imposed  on  this  generation 
are  by  so  much  the  greater  than  those  which 
rested  on  our  revolutionary  ancestors,  as  the  pop- 


OF-  A  SENATE  PAGE:         233 

illation,  extent,  and  power  of  our  country  sur 
passes  the  dawning  promise  of  its  origin. 

It  would  be  a  pleasing  task  to  pursue  many 
trains  of  thought,  not  wholly  foreign  to  this  oc 
casion,  but  the  temptation  to  enter  the  wide  field 
must  be  vigorously  curbed;  yet  I  may  be  par 
doned,  perhaps,  for  one  or  two  additional  re 
flections  : 

The  Senate  is  assembled  for  the  last  time  in 
this  Chamber.  Henceforth  it  will  be  converted 
to  other  uses;  yet  it  must  remain  forever  con 
nected  with  great  events,  and  sacred  to  the  mem 
ories  of  the  departed  orators  and  statesmen  who 
here  engaged  in  high  debates  and  shaped  the 
policy  of  their  country. 

Hereafter  the  American  and  the  stranger,  as 
they  wander  through  the  Capitol,  will  turn  with 
instructive  reverence  to  view  the  spot  on  which 
so  many  and  great  materials  have  accumulated 
for  history.  They  will  recall  the  images  of  the 
great  and  good,  whose  renown  is  the  common 
property  of  the  Union ;  and  chiefly,  perhaps,  they 
will  linger  around  the  seats  once  occupied  by  the 
mighty  three,  whose  names  and  fame  associated 
in  life,  death  has  not  been  able  to  sever;  illus 
trious  men — in  their  generation  sometimes  di 
vided,  sometimes  led  and  sometimes  resisted 
public  opinion — for  they  were  of  that  higher  class 
of  statesmen  who  seek  the  right  and  follow  their 
convictions.  There  sat  Calhoun,  the  Senator  in 
flexible,  austere ;  oppressed,  but  not  overwhelmed 
by  his  deep  sense  of  the  importance  of  his  public 
functions;  seeking  the  truth,  then  fearlessly  fol 
lowing  it — a  man  whose  upsparing  intellect 


234  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

compelled  all  his  emotions  to  harmonize  with  the 
deductions  of  his  vigorous  logic,  and  whose  noble 
countenance  habitually  wore  the  expression  of  one 
engaged  in  the  performance  of  high  public  duties. 

This  was  Webster's  seat.  He,  too,  was  even 
such  a  Senator.  Conscious  of  his  own  vast  pow 
ers,  he  reposed  with  confidence  on  himself;  and, 
scorning  the  contrivances  of  smaller  men,  he 
stood  among  his  peers  all  the  greater  for  the 
simple  dignity  of  his  senatorial  demeanor. 

Type  of  his  Northern  home,  he  rises  before  the 
imagination  in  the  grand  and  granite  outline  of 
his  form  and  intellect,  like  a  great  New  England 
rock  repelling  a  New  England  wave.  As  a 
writer  his  productions  will  be  cherished  by  states 
men  and  scholars  while  the  English  tongue  is 
spoken.  As  a  senatorial  orator,  his  great  efforts 
are  historically  associated  with  the  Chamber, 
whose  very  air  seems  yet  to  vibrate  beneath  the 
strokes  of  his  deep  tones  and  his  weighty  words. 

On  the  outer  circle  sat  Henry  Clay,  with  his  im 
petuous  and  ardent  nature,  untamed  by  age,  and 
exhibiting  in  the  Senate  the  same  vehement  pa 
triotism  and  passionate  eloquence  that  of  yore 
electrified  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the 
country. 

His  extraordinary  personal  endowments,  his 
courage,  all  his  noble  qualities,  invested  him  with 
an  individuality  and  a  character  which  in  any  age, 
would  have  made  him  a  favorite  of  history.  He 
loved  his  country  above  all  earthly  objects.  He 
loved  liberty  in  all  countries.  Illustrious  man ! 
Orator,  patriot,  philanthropist — his  light  at  his 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE  235 

meridian  was  seen  and  felt  in  the  remotest  part 
of  the  civilized  world.  And  his  declining  sun,  as 
it  hastened  down  the  west,  threw  back  its  level 
beams,  in  hues  of  mellowed  splendor,  to  illuminate 
and  to  cheer  the  land  he  loved  and  served  so 
well. 

All  the  States  may  point,  with  gratified  pride, 
to  the  services  in  the  Senate  of  their  patriotic 
sons.  Crowding  the  memory,  comes  the  names  of 
Adams,  Hayne,  Mason,  Otis,  Macon,  Pinckney, 
and  the  rest — I  cannot  number  them — who,  in 
the  record  of  their  acts  and  utterances  appeal  to 
their  successors  to  give  the  Union  a  destiny  not 
unworthy  of  the  past.  What  models  were  these 
to  awaken  emulation  or  to  plunge  in  despair! 
Fortunate  will  be  the  American  statesman  who 
in  this  age,  or  succeeding  times  shall  contribute 
to  invest  the  new  Hall  to  which  we  go,  with  his 
toric  memories  like  those  which  cluster  here. 
And  now,  Senators,  we  leave  this  memorable 
Chamber  bearing  with  us  unimpaired,  the  Con 
stitution  we  received  from  our  forefathers.  Let 
us  cherish  it  with  grateful  acknowledgement  to 
the  Divine  Power  who  controls  the  destinies  of 
empires  and  whose  goodness  we  adore. 

The  structures  reared  by  men  yield  to  the 
corroding  tooth  of  time.  These  marble  walls 
must  molder  into  ruin,  but  the  principles  of  con 
stitutional  liberty,  guarded  by  wisdom  and  virtue, 
unlike  material  elements,  do  not  decay.  Let  us 
devoutly  trust  that  another  Senate,  in  another  age, 
shall  bear  to  a  new  and  larger  Chamber,  this 
Constitution,  vigorous  and  inviolate ;  and  that  the 


236  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SENATE  PAGE 

last  generation  of  posterity  shall  witness  the  de 
liberations  of  the  Representatives  of  American 
States  still  united,  prosperous  and  free. 

In  execution  of  the  order  of  the  Senate,  th« 
body  will  now  proceed  to  the  new  Chamber. 


THE  END. 


OUR    NEWEST    ISSUES 


By  Alexandra  Erixon. 
The  Vale  of  Shadows 1.50 


By  Mrs.  Josephine  M.  Clarke. 
The  King  Squirrel  of  Central  Park  (Juvenile) .     .60 


By  William  N.  Freeman. 
St.  Mammon  1.50 


By  Mrs.  I.  Lowenberg. 
The  Irresistible   Current 1.50 


By  M.  Y.  T.  H.  Myth. 

Tales  of  Enchantment i.oo 

A  Tale  Confided  by  the  Woods 75 


By  Ida  Blanche  Wall. 
Comedy  of  Petty  Conflicts 1.25 


By  Elizabeth  Helene  Freston. 

Poems  (portrait)  beautifully  bound i.oo 

Italians  Fornarina  (leather) 3.00 


Compiled  by  Darwin  W.  Esmond. 
Poetry  of  Childhood,  by  Paul  Warner  Esmond 
(Memorial  Edition) .. 1.50 


OUR    NEWEST    ISSUES 


By  Wilbert  C.  Blakeman. 
The  Black  Hand  ..........  .  ...........  ......  1.50 


By  John  W.  Bennett. 
Roosevelt  and  the  Republic 1.50 


By  Hon.  Joseph  M.  Brown. 

(Governor  of  Georgia.) 
Astyanax — An  Epic  Romance 1.50 


By  John  Tracy  Mygatt. 
What  I  Do  Not  Know  of  Farming 75 


By  Esmee  Walton. 
Aurora  of  Poverty  Hill 1.50 


By  Josephine  Merwin  Cook. 
Bandana  Days .75 


By  Howard  James. 
The  Wraith  of  Knopf  and  Other  Stories i.oo 


By  George  Fuller  Golden. 
My  Lady  Vaudeville  and  Her  White  Rats...,  2.00 


By  J.  A.  Salmon- Maclean. 

Leisure  Moments i.oo 

A  Stricken  City .^. . ....... .._..._.:    .50 


OUR    NEWEST    ISSUES 


By  James  A.  Ritchey,  Ph.D. 
Psychology  of  the  Will $1.50 


By  Charles  Hallock,  M.  A. 
Peerless  Alaska  .  .  i.oo 


By  Dwight  Edwards  Marvin. 

Prof.  Slagg  of  London 1.50 

The  Christman  1.50 


By  Caroline  Mays  Brevard. 
Literature  of  the  South 1.50 


By  Susan  Archer  Weiss. 
Home  Life  of  Poe  ($d  ed.) 1.50 


By  Irving  Wilson  Voorhees,  M.D. 
Teachings  of  Thomas  Henry  Huxley  (2d  ed.) .   i.oo 


By  Mrs.  Annie  Riley  Hale. 
Rooseveltian  Fact  and  Fable . .  .  i.oo 


By  Hon.  D.  W.  Higgins. 
The  Mystic  Spring 1.50 


By  Edith  Nicholl  Ellison. 
The  Burnt-Offering    .  ...^.^.. ..... . 


Sam  S.  &  Lee  Shubert 

direct  the  following  theatres  and  theatrical 
attractions  in  America : 


Hippodrome,  Lyric,  Casino, 
Dalys,  Lew  Fields,  Herald 
Square  and  Princess  Thea 
tres,  New  York. 

Garrick  Theatre,  Chicago. 
Lyric  Theatre,  Philadelphia. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Brooklyn. 

Belasco  Theatre,  Washing 
ton. 

Belasco  Theatre,  Pittsburg. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Newark. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Utica. 

Grand  Opera  House,  Syra 
cuse. 

Baker  Theatre,  Rochester. 
Opera  House,  Providence. 

Worcester  Theatre,  Worces 
ter. 

Hyperion 
Haven. 


Theatre,      New 


Lyceum  Theatre,  Buffalo. 
Colonial  Theatre,  Cleveland. 
Rand's  Opera  House,  Troy. 
Garrick  Theatre,  St.  Louis. 

Sam   S.    Shubert    Theatre, 
Norfolk,  Va. 

Shubert  Theatre,  Columbus. 
Lyric,  Cincinnati. 


Mary     Anderson     Theatre, 

Louisville.  , 
New    Theatre,     Richmond., 

Va. 

New  Theatre,  Lexington,  Ky. 
New  Theatre,  Mobile. 
New  Theatre,  Atlanta. 

Shubert    Theatre,    Milwau 
kee. 

Lyric  Theatre,  New  Orleans. 

New       Marlowe      Theatre, 
Chattanooga. 

New  Theatre,  Detroit. 

Grand   Opera   House,  Dav« 
enport,  Iowa. 

New  Theatre,  Toronto." 

New  Sothern  Theatre,  Den 
ver. 

Sam   S.    Shubert    Theatre, 
Kansas  City. 

Majestic  Theatre,   Los  An 
geles. 

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cisco. 

E.  H.  Sothern  &  Julia  Mar 
lowe  in  repertoire. 


Margaret  Anglin  and  Henry      '  Shore  Acres.*' 

Mlllcr*  Louis  Mann  in  ' « The  White 

Virginia  Harned.  Hen." 

"The  Road  to 

Mme.  Alia  Nazimova.  Henry  Woodruff  in  "  Brown 

of  Harvard." 

Thos.    W.    Ross   in    "The 

Other  Girl."  The  Secret  Orchard,"  by 

Channmg  Pollock. 

Cecelia  Loftus. 

^.        W1     ,       ,  De  Wolf  Hopper  in   "  Hap- 

Clara  Bloodgood.  pyland." 

Blanche  Ring. 

Eddie  Foy  in  "  The  Orchid." 
Alexander  Carr. 

_,  .      _  ..  Marguerite  Clark,  in  a  new 

Digby  Bell.  opera 

"  The     Girl     Behind     the     4<  ^. 
Counter  "  The   Social  Whirl,"  with 

Chas.  T.  Ross. 
"The  Light  Eternal/ 

James  T.  Powers  in  "The 
"The  Snow  Man."  Blue  Moon." 

Blanche  Bates  in  "  The  Gkl  Bertha  Kalich. 

from  the  Golden  West."  «<^eah  Klcsclma  .. 
Dayid    Warfield    in    "The 

Music  Master."  "The  Man  on  the  Box." 
"  The  Rose  of  the  Rancho," 

with  Rose  Starr.  Cyril  Scott  in  "  The  Prince 

HARRISON    GRAY    Fisxg's        Chap." 
Mr,  ^rtnCT^   New     "Mrs.Te.npU.Te.egra.n,. 
York  Idea."  "The  Three  of  Us." 


You  cannot  go  wrong  in  selecting  one  of 
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The  Traveler  and  the  Grapes 


BY 
JOHN     C.     BAIRD 


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The  story  deals  with  a  traveler  and  his  horse  who  have 
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storm,  but  seek  shelter  in  a  hermit's  cave.  The  hermit 
imparts  a  secret  to  the  traveler  about  a  certain  grape  in 
which  there  was  supposed  to  reside  a  magic  power.  The 
traveler  departs  to  continue  his  journey  but  again  loses 
his  way  and  discovers  the  grape,  which  he  tastes.  He  is 
instantaneously  changed  into  a  king  with  a  large  court 
and  retinue.  He  rules  his  people  in  a  benign  manner 
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When  he  has  done  all  the  good  he  possibly  can  do  he  is 
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We  beg  to  announce  for  autumn  a  new  novel  from 
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The  scene  of  Miss  Edwards'  new  work  is  laid  in 
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••LOVE  IN  THE  TROPICS" 

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A  NOVEL 

BY  REV.  M.  V.  BROWM.S 
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thoughtful,  able  and  authoritative  worlT  in 
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Lost  in  the  Mammoth  Cave 

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Under  the  Darkness  of  the 
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'A    Tale  of   West  Indian  Insurrection* 

BY  ELLEN  CHAZAL  CHAPEAU. 
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book,  written  by  one  whose  life  has  been  passed 
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The  Instrument  Tuned 

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A  Biography 

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GREY  DAWN  REFLECTIONS 

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Printed  on  grey  antique  paper*  Cover  in  grey? 
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Told  &t  Twilight 

BY  EVA  BROWNE.' 
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BETWEEN  THE  LINES 

VIOLA  T.  MAXIMA 

Cloth,  12mo.  Dainty  in  style,  thrilling  in  contents  .    $1.00 
This  is  a  story  on  the  always  interesting  subject  of  an  unfort 
unate  marriag«;  a  story  of  pique  and  lost  opportunity. 

Broadway  Publishing  Company, 

835  Broadway,  New  York. 


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WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
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OVERDUE. 


FEB  2  7  1995 


LD  21-100m-12, '43  (8796s) 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


